Darkness Collision
by Mugenshou
Summary: The madness is over! Sasuke's back, and it's on to the second Chuunin Exams!...or is it? A new threat looms.... NarutoRurouni Kenshin crossover REACTIVATED!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Prologue - **Before the Storm**

_It was a situation no one had expected._

_It was impossible to comprehend what was happening._

_As of now, only one person had the power to stop it._

_"You are all too late," Orochimaru sneered. "Sasuke little by little is becoming mine."_

_Naruto clenched a fist. "SASUKE! Get up and fight, you baka! Are you gonna give up already! Sasuke, GET UP!"_

_"Heh, heh, heh,…pathetic dropout. A fool like you definitely wasn't cut out to be a shinobi after all. You can't even realize how impossible this situation is!"_

_Naruto glared so furiously at Orochimaru that his eyes began to water. "Who the hell gave you the right to tell me what I am, you fuckin' dumbass!" At this point, the red chakra surrounding Naruto had already taken the shape of the Kyuubi. "I will fucking kill you and crush you back to hell!"_

_"If you think it's so simple," Orochimaru teased. "Then come and kill me now, Naruto-kun."_

_Naruto knew that was just a dare; he had enemies daring him all the time. That didn't stop him, however, from mindlessly charging straight into Orochimaru._

_"DIE, YOU BASTARD!"_

_"Fuuin Jutsu! Chakra Fuuin!" _

_Suddenly Naruto just stopped moving in the air and fell to the ground. And stayed on the ground._

_"Wha…what's going on…?" Naruto groaned._

_Orochimaru chuckled. "I sealed the chakra in your body. Not just your normal chakra, but the chakra of the Kyuubi as well. And since your killer intent was part of the Kyuubi's chakra, you no longer have the power, or desire, to kill me. Now, Naruto-kun, what are you going to do now?" _

_Naruto wanted to get mad…he really so desired to get mad right now…but for some reason, he couldn't do it._

Damn, _thought Naruto. _I want to save Sasuke, but…

You can do it,_ said a voice. _Just open your heart. Open your heart…and submit…

_"Now, where were we, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru could barely contain his glee. "Oh, that's right, we have to finish taking care of your memories…"_

_Immediately after Orochimaru breathed his last few words, something slammed into him hard, forcing his fall off the platform._

_"What! What the-." And those were the last words Orochimaru ever said._

_Through his now-terrified eyes, Orochimaru could see nothing but darkness floating over his eyes. _

_The darkness moved. _

_Orochimaru screamed._

_Everything went black._


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 1 - **Questions and Recovery**

"Nurse, I need to know that medical jutsu right now!"

"The patient's going into hyperventilation!"

_...Where am I_

"We need Hokage-sama right away!"

"Call in Shizune-san too!"

_…What's going on…_

"Whatever you do, don't you let him die!"

"His uncle's gonna get pissed…"

_…Uncle…? What's going on…?_

"Hey, hey, he's starting to wake up!"

"Took him a while…how troublesome…."

_Troublesome? That's…_

"…ungh…"

"Hey, look who's awake."

"Shi…Shika…Shikamaru?"  
"Yeah, it's me. Looks like you're back to life, buddy."

"Wh-what are you doing here? Where am I?"

"Where do you think? You're in the hospital!"

"Oh…okay, then."

_Hey, wait a sec…_

"WAITAMINUTE! WHERE'SSASUKE? ISHEALLRIGHT? WHATABOUTSAKURA? KAKASHI-SENSEI? NEJI? GEJIMAYU? WHAT ABOUT SHIKA-OH WAIT, YOU'RE SHIKA- hey, why aren't you injured?"

Naruto let go of Shikamaru, who was now shaking so badly that he couldn't even yell at Naruto for nearly causing his heart to enter ventriculation.

"Da…da…damn…y-you, NARUTO!" Shikamaru finally regained his voice, which grew into an ear-shattering bellow.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU YELLING FOR, BAKA!" Naruto yelled.

"YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME, YOU DUMBASS!" Shikamaru yelled back.

Just then a nurse came into the room, "Hey, both of you, knock it off! There are patients in here!"

Naruto and Shikamaru looked abashed. "Sorry," they replied in unison.

The nurse left and Naruto turned back to Shikamaru. "Hey, hey, so where's everyone else? Are they okay?"

Shikamaru sighed. "If by 'fine' you mean 'alive', then yeah, everyone's fine. Everyone took quite a beating though. Your sensei got his sharingan eye knocked out during his fight. It took a lot of medical jutsus to put the eye back in. Neji and Lee were in even more troublesome conditions. At this point, they're still trying to fix Neji's ability to use his Byakugan again. And Lee's been damaged a lot more than he was after his prelim fight in the chuunin exams, so it will take a troublesome while for him to recover."

"But what about Sakura-chan and Sasuke? Are they serious too?"

"With our protection, Sakura suffered no injuries, and she helped bring us all to a point where we could actually breathe. It was troublesome for her, but I'm grateful."

"YOU'RE grateful? You don't even have a scratch on you!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Ahem," Shikamaru motioned to Naruto to look at his shoulder. Naruto's eyes bulged out in surprise.

There was a scar wrapped around Shikamaru's right shoulder.

"If Sakura hadn't reattached my arm, my life would have been _really_ troublesome." Shikamaru replied.

"Wow…tell me about it." Naruto had to admit, the injuries of all of his teammates were a little too much for his heart to handle. To discover that everyone was still alive made it all the more surprising.

"So, c'mon, c'mon, tell me what happened to Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.

"Calm down, baka. Well, as for Sasuke…he's back, but he's suffered the most troublesome injuries of all."

"What, what is it?" Naruto wanted to know.

"His mentality was seriously damaged. For the past couple of days that he's been in here, he hasn't been able to stand up, much less move. He can't talk either."

"But that means he's conscious, right?"

Shikamaru hesitated. "He is conscious, but…it's like his body is alive, only his mind…is like, dead. Dead to the world."

Naruto just sat there as if he, too, was dead to the world. He had never heard of anyone being alive while being dead at the same time. It just made no sense to him. He wondered if-

"Shikamaru, is there any way to help Sasuke?"

"The medical ninjas have already found a way," Shikamaru replied, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "But they had just started healing him, so they still don't know what other harmful effects have happened to him."

Although this was bad news to Naruto, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved. _As long as there is a way,_ thought Naruto, _then I will believe in Sasuke._

He turned to Shikamaru and said, "Thanks for all that you told me, Shikamaru. I'm really glad that everything turned out alright."

"Not alright," countered Shikamaru, "But getting better."

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, that's right."

Shikamaru sighed once more, then got up and went to the door. "Well, if you need anything else, you can call me or any of the nurses here to help you. It seems like so far I'm the only one who can walk."

Naruto yawned, "Yeah, I'm getting sleepy anyways, I'll just get some more rest right now."

"Alright, then, see ya later, Naruto."

Naruto suddenly sat up. "Um…actually, there is one favor you can do for me right now," he replied with a foxy grin.

"What is it?"

"Could…could you get me some…ramen?" Naruto begged.

Shikamaru made a face. "Just go back to sleep, you dumbass."

With a grin, Shikamaru exited Naruto's room and tightly closed the door.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 2 - **Old Friends, Old times. Return of the Chuunin Exam!**

Naruto went back to bed, but he didn't go back to sleep. Instead he looked up at the ceiling, his hands behind his head, trying to piece together his memory.

_Let's see, _Naruto thought, _I remember…oh, that's right! I was fighting Orochimaru! After I…no, after WE…we…oh yeah, we saved Gaara from Akatsuki and then…yeah…we decided to go get back Sasuke from Orochimaru, but then….yeah, we ran into Orochimaru's punks…and eventually I was the only one who found Orochimaru, and that bastard was doing something to Sasuke. I remember I charged at him, but I fell down and- wait, wait, wait a MINUTE! What happened to Orochimaru!_

In all of his life, Naruto could not remember ever being so stupid as to forgetting to ask Shikamaru what happened with Orochimaru.

_Damnit, I gotta go ask him what happened! _With that thought, Naruto very quickly shot up from his bed.

A little too quickly.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Naruto totally forgot about the wounds on his body as he screamed his heart out.

Just then, the door flew open. "Hey, what's all this screaming in here?" a girl's voice rang out.

Naruto looked up very suddenly, knowing full well whose voice that was. "SAKURA-CHAN!" He exclaimed. "You're alright-ungh!"

"Naruto, what are you doing screaming about? You're not the only patient in here, ya know!" Sakura yelled.

"I know that! It's just that it hurts!" Naruto moaned.

"What do you mean, 'it hurts'?"

"I got injured, remember? These wounds freakin hurt!" Naruto complained.

At this, Sakura facefaulted.

"Naruto," said Sakura while getting back up and while trying hard not to explode with frustration, "You're not injured."

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Your injuries were healed before we even got a toe into this hospital," said Sakura through gritted teeth.

"_DUH! DID YOU FORGET THAT ALREADY, YOU DUMBASS!" _Inner Sakura yelled.

Now it was Naruto's turn to facefault.

"Whoa, wait, wait a minute," said Naruto while getting back up. "Then why do I feel like I hurt so much?"

Sakura sighed while rubbing her temple, "It's…called…psychology, you baka."

"Psycho…what?"

"Okay, nevermind. Look, I was just coming by to get you out of this place, only I found out that they never told me your room number so it was by your stupid idiotic voice that I found you. Now hurry up and change into your clothes, we have to go meet up with Kakashi-sensei right now." Sakura sounded unusually businesslike today.

"Alright then," Naruto replied. "Only…."

"Only what?"

"Well, ya know, you're really cute when you sound like that," Naruto grinned slyly.

Sakura giggled for a second. Then, realizing who she was talking to, got pissed off and said, "Just hurry up, bakayarou!"

_"SHANNARO!" _yelled Inner Sakura.

"Okay, okay! I'm getting out, I'm getting out, geez…"

(Later on...)

"So, Sakura-chan, why does Kakashi want to see us?" Naruto asked.

After Naruto had come out of bed and changed his clothes (right in front of Sakura's eyes, to her dismay), they both silently snuck out of the hospital. It turned out that Naruto's release was not until the day after, and Sakura was overloaded with a million duties in the hospital. Since both of them could not handle being in the hospital for another minute, it was therefore the reason why Sakura was so anxious to get out of the hospital. Naruto was also anxious to get out too, but he wanted to get out because he had heard the word 'needle' and as a result, he desperately wanted out of there. Naruto actually wanted to stay in the hospital for a brief moment as he wanted to see Sasuke, but upon hearing that, Sakura turned to stone all of a sudden, and very silently muttered that Sasuke had already left the building. Naruto, being the oblivious person that he was, did not notice Sakura's actions.

At least, that's what Sakura assumed.

"Actually, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei wants to see you. You…and Sasuke…" Sakura trailed off.

Now Naruto knew that there was something definitely wrong. Not only had Sakura hesitated on saying Sasuke's name, she also didn't add the 'kun' part to his name. _Something's definitely wrong here, _thought Naruto, _but should I say something? I don't think I should…_

_Ah, screw it._

"Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there something wrong between you and Sasuke?"

_Damnit, he did know._

"U-um, no, -w-why would you ask such a thing?" Sakura stammered.

_Oh great, she looks like she's about to break down…better stop here I guess…._Naruto just shook his head and said, "Oh, nothing, I'm just curious, that's all."

"Oh…I see…." _That was possibly the worst excuse that Naruto came up with…and he calls himself the master of improvisation? Great, he's stopped talking about it, but I have a feeling he's not gonna let it go. Better keep playing the role of happy happy! …Okay, that just sounded retarded…_

"HEY! ARE YOU IN THERE!" Naruto shouted so loud that the birds that they were just about to walk into suddenly flew away.

Sakura, who was totally lost in her thoughts, was rudely interrupted by Naruto's bellowing. Now she was mad. "DAMN YOU, STOP SHOUTING!" Sakura screamed.

"I was just asking what Kakashi-sensei wanted with me and, uh, him," Naruto cringed. He had almost slipped up on his tongue, but he caught himself in time.

Sakura chose to ignore this, and said, "I'm not exactly sure. You know our sensei, he's as mysterious as he was when we first met him."

At that moment, they had finally arrived to the meeting area, which was the same bridge that they always met at, where they met…

"Sa-sa-SASUKE!" Naruto exclaimed, overjoyed at the sight. Then, realizing who _he_ was talking to, he immediately stiffened up and said, "Hmph! Glad to see you're alright, Sasuke-chan! Don't you have something you want to say to me now?"

"Hn…usuradonkachi…," Sasuke smirked, though secretly, he was grateful to Naruto, although he will never, in a million years, admit THAT.

"WHAT! YOU BAKA, I SAVED YOU AND THIS IS THE THANKS THAT I GET? HUH!" Naruto forgot all his feelings of peace and immediately erupted.

Sasuke just ignored him. He instead turned to Sakura and tensely said, "Ohayo, Sakura."

"O-ohayo…Sasuke…," replied Sakura with just as much tension in her voice.

_Okay, if there wasn't anything wrong before, _Naruto thought, _there is definitely something wrong now._

_Sasuke…,_ thought Sakura, _I…_

_No matter how much they have done for me, however, _thought Sasuke, _it doesn't change a thing. I can't keep going. I can only look back…._

The silence between the three as they were thinking was almost unbearable for Naruto, so he busied himself with looking at a fly dancing in the air and blabbering about ramen. Sakura all of a sudden noticed that her sandal strap was broken, so she hurriedly bent down and fixed it as if it were her last duty. Sasuke just turned around and stared into the river, not having anything to preoccupy himself with.

The next thirty minutes of waiting was absolute torture. Naruto had gone from watching the fly to actually catching the fly. Since his reflexes were already so good, he had already caught the fly in 3 seconds. Panicking that it was over so soon, he fervently tried to find another fly, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found one, only to discover that it was a bee. Without noticing, Naruto caught the "fly" and immediately the "fly" stung him.

Needless to say, Naruto became really preoccupied after that.

Had Sakura not been so busy desperately trying to find another spot on herself to fix, she would have yelled at Naruto for screaming in pain and for being stupid enough to not recognize a bee. At this point, though, she became so desperate that she started looking at some ants on the ground. Through some unfortunate twist of fate (and her still-broken sandal strap), Sakura managed to trip and fall directly onto the ants, where she found out firsthand that the ants she was looking at were…

…fire ants.

It was a good thing that Sasuke always tends to stay in his own memory world, because if he had been paying attention to reality at that moment, Naruto's and Sakura's screams would have ultimately pissed him off. Fortunately he was still looking at the river, although his eyes were slowly starting to glaze over…

Just when it felt like hell finally froze over, there was a small "poof" sound, and from the location of that sound, came-

"KAKASHI-SENSEI, WHERE THE LIVING #$&&$# HAVE YOU BEEN!" Naruto was practically salivating with anger.

"WHAT THE #$ TOOK YOU SO DAMN LONG!" Sakura no longer held back 'Inner Sakura'.

"…" was all Sasuke said, although he looked like he just had the most tiring exercise of his life.

"Oh, oh, sorry, sorry. You see-" Kakashi was just about to say-

"NO, NO, NO, AFTER ALL THAT WE JUST BEEN THROUGH RIGHT NOW, IT'S NOT EVEN WORTH LISTENING TO YOUR EXCUSES ANYMORE!"

_"SHANNARO!"_ Sakura had tucked 'Inner Sakura' back in, although 'Inner Sakura' had only just gotten warmed up.

_Wow…, _thought Kakashi, _Words are getting so colorful nowadays. Oh shit, they starting to get impatient again. I better tell them the news quick._

"Er…yes, okay. Now that you are all here…or, I mean now that Sasuke and Naruto are here, I have a very special assignment for you two."

At those words, Naruto and Sakura immediately calmed down. "What, what, what, what's the assignment, Kakashi-sensei? Is it another A-rank mission? That would be so cool!" Naruto yelled breathlessly.

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "No Naruto, actually it is a special mission…intended to solve a special problem."

"What's the problem, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura wanted to know.

"Well, see, since the Leaf village is still having problems, what with the recent arrival of injured shinobis, this village's prestige must go up. One of the ways that the village's prestige goes up is by the current status of the recent generation of genins. If, say, the genins of the recent generation all promote to jounin at a very fast pace, the village's prestige will tower over everyone else's. Now, your genin generation is made of the 'Rookie 9', along with Gai's team. With the recent promotion of the other two teams of the 'Rookie 9' and Gai's team to chuunin, and in Neji's case, jounin, our village's prestige should have gone up…if it hadn't been for one problem."

"What is it?" Sakura asked, though Sakura felt like she already knew the answer.

"For our prestige level to rise would require _everyone _to be promoted. Unfortunately, in our village, not _everyone_ is promoted." Every time Kakashi said the word "everyone", he looked directly at Naruto…and Sasuke.

"Uhh…what?" From the moment Kakashi started talking about prestige, Naruto had already gotten lost.

"Damn…usuradonkachi."

"In other words, HE WANTS YOU TO BE PROMOTED, YOU DUMBASS!" Sakura shouted.

"Oh…OH! WAIT! Then, that means…!"

Kakashi smiled again. "Yep, you two are taking the chuunin exams once again!"


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 3 - **WHAT! Only Two People! Representing the Leaf!**

_Damn, _thought Sasuke, _I still don't remember a single thing before the Orochimaru incident…. The only things I really remember are Naruto and Sakura, of course, as well as my fight with Naruto…but after that…besides the rescue, I can't remember…speaking of Sakura, what the hell's the matter with her? Not that it matters to me, of course…but for me to come back alive and her not fussing over me and calling me 'sasuke-kun'…_, Sasuke gazed over at Sakura, who either had serious head twitches or was doing her very best not to look at Sasuke. _Ah, screw it. Best not to get into this too much…gotta find my memory first…and to do that, I have to keep looking back…._

He was so into his thoughts that he didn't even sense Naruto giving him a hard shove right into the mudhole that Sasuke didn't even see.

SPLAT!

"Oy, Naruto! What the fuck was that for, you dumbass!" Sasuke yelled, after he got all the mud off his lips.

"Oh, you're finally awake, Sasuke-CHAN! We're getting close to the chuunin exam area; don't go falling asleep now, bakayarou!" Naruto exclaimed a little too heartily, because he knew that he had just pissed off Sasuke to the MAX.

"Don't play games with me, Naruto."

"Don't be such a weenie, Sasuke-CHAN!"

"Alright, we're finally here!" said Kakashi in his relaxed-yet-authoritative voice that managed to break the fight up. "Now both of you listen to me," Kakashi said. "Although this is just like any other chuunin exam, you must remember that you two are doing this for the sake of our village. Considering the gravity of your situation, this chuunin exam has turned into an A-class mission for the both of you. You must not-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Kakashi-sensei! This Chuunin Exam is actually _our_ A-class mission? Since when?" Naruto could not believe it.

"It was set even before we went on the rescue mission." Kakashi said rather stiffly. "And the special thing about this mission is that it's granted to you two ONLY."

"Meaning-" Naruto stammered.

"Meaning that in our leaf village, you two are the only ones who will be representing our village." Kakashi summed up.

"WHAAA! WE'RE GONNA BE THE ONLY ONES IN OUR VILLAGE TO PARTICIPATE! AGAINST EVERYONE IN THE WORLD!"

Even Sasuke had to frown at that.

"In doing this, we will be spreading a message to the rest of the world that we are so strong, that we can beat everyone else's shinobis even with only two people." Kakashi explained.

"I guess that makes sense…," although Naruto's expression betrayed his words.

Sasuke, who had been calm through all this, finally spoke up.

"How come…it's US, and not somebody else?"

"Because you two are the strongest shinobi in this village!" Kakashi exclaimed.

Unless Sasuke's ears were deceiving him, Kakashi seemed to be diverting from the question…

"Look, don't worry about that now. You guys are already late with Naruto shooting his mouth off and all. Hurry up and get to the 1st test!"

Naruto clenched a fist. "Alright! I, Uzumaki Naruto, will pass this test and get one step closer to Hokage! And that's something I will never turn my back on, because that's my ninja way!"

"If you keep standing there like an idiot, Sasuke might just beat you to it," said Kakashi, who was watching Sasuke already running into the building.

Naruto looked horrified. "WHAT! That's also my goal- to surpass you, SASUKE-CHAN!" shouted Naruto as he ran after Sasuke as fast as he could.

Sakura watched both of them run into the building. "Good luck, Naruto…and you too, Sasuke. I know you…both of you…will do great…."


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 4 - **Interesting Foes - Begin Test!**

"Slow down, Sasuke! How could you just leave your teammate behind like this!" Naruto exclaimed. Not wanting to think about how this scene reminded him of how he had chased Sasuke before, he put on some more speed, and then tackled Sasuke so hard that his face slammed against the floor.

"Kusou…! Naruto, get the fuck off me!" Sasuke pushed Naruto off with his strength, and then headed for the door.

"C'mon, wait up!" Naruto yelled, but just then Sasuke had closed the door behind him, leaving Naruto nothing but a faceful of door.

At this point, Naruto's anger had gone so far beyond its peak that he was willing to unleash it out in any way necessary…including blasting the door open with his rasengan.

"Sasuke, you fuckin bastard, I will kill…," Naruto looked puzzled, because Sasuke was standing right next to him, wearing his LOOK.

You know, the _LOOK_. The look that Sasuke wears whenever he's facing a strong adversary. Considering nobody was actually facing Sasuke at that moment, that would only mean…Naruto turns and looks in Sasuke's view –

And sees a LARGE crowd of genins, from the highest ceiling, to the furthest corner. The crowd during the first chuunin exam was big, but this one was nearly five times greater! Naruto had seen quite a lot in his day, but to face a crowd as big as this…and the fact that it was just him and Sasuke against all of them…

"Sa-Sasuke, this is a pr-pretty big cr-crowd…," Naruto stammered.

"No shit, usuradonkachi."

"I-I think we might actually not…"

Out of nowhere, Sasuke punched Naruto in the face.

"Sasuke-teme! What the hell was that for!"

"Are you really Naruto? Are you really the bastard who went out of his way to save my ass? To hear those words from you…I never thought I would hear those words from a person like you….We haven't even started the first test and already you're wetting your pants. If you really were the person who saved me, then I should kill myself right now…."

Naruto was stunned. Not only did Sasuke had the nerve to speak to him that way, he also had the nerve to be right…._Since when I ever spoke this way?_

_Since NEVER!_

Naruto stood up very quickly and addressed the LARGE crowd with the loudest voice ever! "ALRIGHT ALL YOU SON OF A FUCKIN BITCHES! MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO, AND I AM GONNA BE THE FUTURE HOKAGE OF KONOHA! AND AS THE FUTURE HOKAGE, I'M GONNA MAKE SURE THAT I KICK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FUCKIN ASSES BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM! SO COME ON! BRING IT ON, BITCHES!"

Naruto expected all of the crowd to give him glares, cuss back at him, even threaten him. What he didn't expect was –

"Yeah, yeah, we know all about you, you damn kid," said one genin who looked _way_ too old to be one.

"Yeah, and we already know that the other dude is Uchiha Sasuke," said another genin that looked like a surfer.

"Your performances in the Chuunin exam as well as your ties to two of the Sennin are legendary," replied a genin who looked more like a nerd.

There were a lot of replies of "uh-huh" and "damn straight" and "old news".

Naruto was in shock. He didn't know whether to cry because everyone rejected his shout-out, or to laugh because everyone had already known who he was.

He decided on the former.

"Damn it…I wanted everyone in the world to acknowledge me, but I also wanted them to still have interest in me!" He complained to Sasuke.

"Don't get so worked up, you damned baka. From what I can tell, it looks like there are two people who are still interested in us." Sasuke pointed out.

Naruto followed Sasuke view again, only to find Sasuke's statement true; there really were two people looking at them. What made it more amazing was that they weren't looking anywhere else; they just kept staring right at them.

The sight of them soon caused Naruto and Sasuke to stare back at them, because they too were an interesting sight. The pair consisted of a man and a woman, although the woman looked a little too young to be called a "woman". This "young-looking" characteristic was further emphasized by the fact that the man seemed abysmally taller than the woman, making the woman look more like a girl.

Their style of clothing was also different. Although they were wearing the same ninja garb that all the hardcore ninjas would wear, they still looked out of place. It didn't matter if the man was wearing a large trenchcoat, or if the girl looked a tad scantily; their normal clothing was enough to instantly alert Naruto to the fact that they just…didn't belong.

What really struck Naruto the most, though, was the man's expression – it was more noticeable than the longsword strapped to his shoulder. In all of his life, Naruto had seen that man's expression on only one person's face – Sasuke. To have it reciprocated onto another person's face seemed to be a crime. To make things more interesting, Naruto had been staring at the man for a very long time, yet the man's expression never changed. Not once. It remained as stoic as ever.

_That guy, _thought Sasuke, who was also looking at the trenchcoat man._ I don't know who he is, but out of everyone here, even the girl, he seems to be the most interesting one…_

The borderline-homosexual observations were interrupted when a familiar face entered – or rather, appeared – into the room. "Alright you bastards, take your damn seats!" Morino Ibiki exclaimed.

"Sit down, you dumbass!" yelled Sasuke to Naruto.

Naruto, who was still staring at the pair, quickly snapped out of his funk and said, "Damnit, you don't have to tell again!" He quickly took a seat in the middle of the room.

The two mysterious people were still staring at Naruto and Sasuke.

_Uzumaki Naruto…,_ thought the man with the trenchcoat. _Interesting…_

_----------------_

Of course Naruto and Sasuke already knew what would happen in the first and second tests, so they just flew through all those tests and surpassed Gaara's time in the Forest of Death as the fastest team ever. It was not that the first two tests didn't matter (Ibiki actually provided even more awe-inspiring words than the last time), it was that Naruto and Sasuke knew those two tests wouldn't allow them to assess their fighting skills as well as the one event that they were anticipating….

"Alright, normally if the amount of people who passed the second test is tremendously few, then we would go straight to the finals. However…it seems there is…WAY too much."

That would be Tsunade, the fifth hokage, speaking. All of the remaining genin who had passed the second test were gathered in the preliminary room. All of the jounins, including the chuunins, were also in the room, each on Tsunade's side.

"Therefore, in order to lessen the amount, we are now going to hold preliminary matches!" Tsunade announced.

All of the genin, except for Naruto and Sasuke, became instantly worried.

"Dude, I hope I won't have to get, like, eliminated, you know?" The surfer ninja said.

_Who here…who here's the most likely to lose…who…_, thought the nerdy ninja, who was busy scanning the area.

Naruto turned to Sasuke and said, "Hey, do you remember what you said the last time? This time, I'll make sure you'll regret fighting me!"

Sasuke did not immediately answer. Instead he turned slowly to Naruto and said, "All I'm going to say is, no matter how many times you try, you STILL won't put a scratch on my forehead."

Naruto became enraged. "What! I remember I put a scratch on your forehead once!"

"Idiot, that was only my forehead protector. In fact, except for the forehead protector, you never actually hurt me at all," Sasuke sneered.

Naruto was about to snap and use his rasengan again, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw…

"Hey, its our friends up there with the old lady! Hey, guys!"

The chuunin at the front quickly averted their eyes from Naruto.

_Alright, Naruto and Sasuke made it to the final round! _thought Sakura, who was still looking at them. _Of course, then again, they were already able to…_

_Naruto-kun, do your best! _thought Rock Lee and Hinata at the same time.

_Damn that Naruto…, _thought Shikamaru. _He's so annoying. Well, better get ready for the matches…_

Ignoring Naruto's furious remarks about how he was being ignored, Shikamaru went up to the front and said, "Alright, the first match is…Hazaki Ryou vs. Yoshizuku Satoru!

The nerdy guy and the surfer guy quickly turned green, for it was their match!

Everyone (all fourteen of them) quickly filed up into the balconies to watch the match.

Shikamaru stood in between the two ninjas. "Alright, as you know, it is a one-on-one elimination match. I will stop the match when one of you is either dead, or incapable to continue. But rest assured, the decision to stop the match is mine alone. Are you two ready?"

_This is gonna get troublesome…. _"Alright, begin!" Shikamaru announced.

Two hours later…

Naruto was getting _really_ impatient. Only four matches went by, and his name still wasn't called up! _Those bastards, _thought Naruto angrily. _They think they can just me off like this…_

Sasuke wasn't fuming like Naruto was doing, but he wasn't very pleased either. His name was actually called up before, but it turned out to be a mistake. _Mistake, my ass…_ thought Sasuke. _They probably still haven't forgiven me for before…_

"The fifth preliminary match…is Katsuyu Konami vs. Shinomori Aoshi!" Shikamaru announced.

At those words, Naruto saw the man in the trenchcoat jump off the balcony railing and onto the fighting floor.

_So, that guy's Shinomori Aoshi…_ Naruto realized.

_Shinomori…Aoshi, _thought Sasuke.

His opponent, Katsuyu Konami, noticed the longsword and automatically broke out laughing. "Hey, dumbass! You think you can actually fight me with that piece of shit?" He said while gesturing to the longsword that Shinomori Aoshi was currently unstrapping. "I'm a ninja, you samurai wannabe! You can't catch me with a longsword!"

The man called Shinomori Aoshi did not answer. Instead he grabbed the hilt of his sword, and pulled out –

A short sword.

Konami looked puzzled for a bit, then he burst out laughing again. "You dumbass! That's even worse than before! You think you can try to trick me, you shady punk?"

Shinomori Aoshi still did not answer. Instead he held the sword in his right hand, and kept the sheath in his other hand.

_What the hell is that guy doing? _Sasuke thought. _To hold your weapon like that…not to mention a short sword like that…that's an amateur move!_

_Hah! What a loser! _Naruto happily thought. _I guess all I need to worry about now is Sasuke…_

"Alright, then, have it your way. It's your graveyard," Konami snickered.

"Begin match!" Shikamaru declared.

"Alright, check this out!" Konami shouted.

Ninjutsu: KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!

Two clones appeared next to Konami.

"Let's go!"

Immediately, Konami and his clones rushed Shinomori Aoshi.

Just before they could make contact, however –

Poof, Poof!

A split second later, Konami was the only one rushing at Shinomori Aoshi.

_Wait, what the fuck just happened?_ Konami thought. _Did…did he just…no way…no way he could've…OH SHIT!_

In the middle of thinking those two words, Konami noticed a couple things:

1. His opponent's sheath was on the ground.

2. His opponent had a SECOND sword.

And finally:

3. He was going to die.

Oniwabanshuu Kodachi Nitou-ryu: GOKOU JUUJI!


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin

Credit to Miss Daydream for previous chapter idea

Chapter 5 - **Incredibly Strong! Ferociously Strong! Naruto vs. Sasuke!**

_No way, _thought Naruto.

_Are you serious? _thought Kiba.

_H-How could he…? _thought Hinata.

_Holy shit…,_ thought Chouji.

_No way!_ thought Naruto.

_That can't be…, _thought Neji.

_He's good…, _thought Tenten.

..., thought a frowning Shino.

_I can't believe it! _thought Sakura.

_I refuse to believe it! _thought Naruto.

_That…was quite troublesome,_ thought an unnerved Shikamaru.

_…Fast…, _thought Lee

_How the hell…? _thought Ino.

_There's no way he could be that…! _thought Naruto.

_…Interesting…very interesting…, _thought Sasuke.

The "original twelve" could only stare as the medic-nins came in and carried off Konami's body…along with his head.

"U-um…okay, um…," Shikamaru took a DEEP breath; it should be noted that he was, after all, the closest witness of the brutality. _Pant…pant…_, "Okay, alright, um…to…to…t-to the…the next…,"

"Do you need to take a break, Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked, concerned.

"Uh-uh…no…I mean, no, no, I do not need a rest, Godaime-sama, thank you. Alright, onto the next match!" Shikamaru replied, trying his best to regain composure.

"Next up, is…Yoshitaka Kozaki vs. Makimachi Misao!"

Before Shikamaru got to saying "Makimachi Misao," the ninja known as Yoshitaka Kozaki had already appeared on the fighting floor…looking quite pissed.

"You're that fuckin shady ass's whore, aren't ya, ya little bitch!" Kozaki shouted. "I'm gonna fuckin tear you open just like how that damn fuck killed my teammate!"

At the words "shady ass", Makimachi Misao's left eyebrow twitched. Without actually saying anything, she gracefully jumped off the railing and landed on the floor in front of the raging Kozaki. She merely stood nonchalantly in front of Kozaki, while Kozaki was already in full battle mode.

_That punk's anger's gonna get the best of him…, _thought Sasuke.

_Ah shit, _thought an ill-looking Shikamaru. _Here we go again…this is gonna be so fuckin troublesome…_

"BEGIN!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Kozaki screamed as he ran at top speed towards the still-nonchalant-looking Makimachi Misao.

Just as Kozaki looked like he was about to jump Misao, he instantly split into four clones. Without a pause for breath, the four clones surrounded her and grabbed her. Just as they grabbed her, however…

BOOM!

The smoke cleared to reveal no traces of the clones, or of Misao.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" laughed an insane-with-rage Kozaki. "My ultimate fuckin trick right there! I can make them appear with no seals, I can explode a whole army of them, and you can try killing every fuckin one of them, and you still won't fuckin catch me! In terms of KAGE BUNSHIN, there is NO ONE out there who can stop me!"

"I only know of one person who's the best," said Misao's monotone voice, freezing Kozaki in his place. "And he's not you."

Oniwabanshuu: KANSATSU TOBI-KUNAI!

The flying kunai that came out of nowhere hit Kozaki's forehead…and came out the other side.

As if on cue, Makimachi Misao suddenly reappeared back on the exact same position that she was standing on before.

Shikamaru watched…again, as another dead body hit the floor.

_Good God...,_ thought Shikamaru _The day I actually take the time to volunteer for a job and this is how it turns out…Irony is so troublesome…_

_And don't these troublesome monsters actually feel anything? _Shikamaru wondered, as he looked at Makimachi Misao's face, who had the same Sasuke-like expression on her face throughout that whole match.

_Oh well…, _Shikamaru resigned. _The next match will probably make up for it…_, he thought with a grin.

"And the winner is…Makimachi Misao! Now, the final match of the preliminaries…!"

"UCHIHA SASUKE VS. UZUMAKI NARUTO!"


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 6 - **Ultimate Clash! The Feelings of the Past**

Naruto could barely contain his excitement. "HELL YEAH! Now, I'm REALLY gonna take you down this time!"

"…What are you so excited about? You already knew the match was gonna happen, you idiot," replied an annoyed Sasuke. "Well, whatever. Since one of us isn't going to the finals, I guess it's best if I beat you up with style. As I said before, don't slow me down, dead last," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Too bad for Sasuke; Naruto was already on the fighting floor. "Hey, SASUKE-CHAN! You're gonna fight me, or what? Or are you gonna keep talking to yourself?" Naruto teased.

The other chuunins laughed, but quickly shut their mouths when Sasuke glared at them.

_Already this punk is boiling my blood…_, thought Sasuke. _I should use the curse seal on him and take him out fast…._

_But then again…,_ Sasuke looked at Shinomori Aoshi, who was busy staring off into the distance. _If I make it into the finals, I shouldn't show my full power just yet…I'll have to fight my best without it for now…_

"HURRY UP!" Naruto was getting _really _impatient.

"Don't be so impatient, usuradonkachi," Sasuke said while coming down on the floor. "The faster you rush, the faster I'll kill you."

"Hah! You'll have to get past my new techniques in order to kill me!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Let's hope your techniques are strong enough against mine…usuradonkachi," Sasuke sneered.

It was a bluff; Sasuke hadn't learned any new techniques at all. Even if he did, he wouldn't remember them anyway.

_I'm just going to have to make them up as I go…,_ thought Sasuke. _Hopefully I'm still a genius…_

"Are both of you through talking now?" Shikamaru asked. "If you don't mind, I'm going to start this match right now."

Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously take up their respective fighting positons.

_Naruto…Sasuke…good luck…,_ thought Sakura.

_Finally, we get to see this match…, _thought the "Twelve".

_Sasuke, _thought Kakashi. _You better not fail…this goes a lot deeper than just the mission…_

"The final match of the preliminaries…BEGIN!"

"oooAAAAAAAHHHH!" Naruto charged straight at Sasuke.

_Heh…once again, no subtleties…, _thought Sasuke with his smirk as he blocked Naruto's first few punches.

Suddenly Naruto jumped up and connected his knee with Sasuke's face.

Sasuke, upon seeing this, immediately fell back onto his hands and wheeled his legs around to trip Naruto. As Naruto was just landing, his left leg got caught on Sasuke's right leg, and he fell facefirst…into Sasuke's waiting right fist.

_Shit…! _Naruto shouted silently.

Instinctively, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's fist and pushed himself up into the air, where he did a flip and landed behind Sasuke just as Sasuke's back kick connected with Naruto's back…

BAM!

The blow sent Naruto flying across the floor and slammed his head against a wall.

"Argh…kuso…," Naruto groaned.

"This is rather embarrassing, usuradonkachi," Sasuke teased, while turning around. "What did you say you'll do again? You'll 'finally beat me?' If you can't even beat me when I don't even have my sharingan on, then I must have been a fool to have believed your – what?"

The figure of Naruto that was sprawled against the wall suddenly disappeared with a _poof!_

_No way…, _thought Sasuke furiously. _Then that means…!_

DOTON: SHINJU ZANSHU NO JUTSU!

All of a sudden, Sasuke felt two hands grab his legs and pulled him all the way down until the only thing above the ground was his head.

"Wh-what the - "

Out of nowhere, four Naruto clones surrounded Sasuke's head.

"I told you you're not gonna get past my new techniques!" All four Narutos laughed.

Sasuke was totally confused, not to mention extremely humiliated, "What the fuck happened, you damn bastard!"

"During my training for the last two and a half years, I learned how to travel underneath the ground," one of the clones explained. "Right from the beginning, when I was running at you, I had a clone hidden behind me that went under the ground. At the last minute, when you kicked me, I used KAWARIMI NO JUTSU to switch places so _I _could be underground. You could have beaten this if you had used your sharingan…."

_That's true! _Sasuke thought angrily. _I could have!_

"But it's too late now," The same clone said almost lazily. "With that, here goes…!"

The same hands that pulled Sasuke down suddenly pushed Sasuke back up in the air, just as…

U!-ZU!-MA!-KI! NARUTO RENDAN!

The four clones kicked Sasuke up into the air while the real Naruto came from the ground and finished off the combo, plummeting Sasuke down to the floor.

_Shit…, _thought Sasuke as he slowly got up from the floor. _It's only in the beginning, and already he got me... _

Breathing heavily, he turned around to glare at a smiling Naruto.

_I should use the curse seal…, _thought Sasuke. _But that's still too early…_

_But then again…, _Sasuke thought evilly. _I can use this…_

"By asking for the sharingan, you've already sealed your fate…," Sasuke smiled, as the familiar black swirly dots with the red iris hue appeared in his eyes.

He immediately formed the familiar hand seals:

KATON: HOUSENKA!

_Oh shit!_ Naruto thought, as he dodged the repeated fire blasts. _Wait a minute, he usually does something after this…!_

WHAM! As if on cue, a vertical kick slammed right into Naruto's chin. Without pausing for a break, Sasuke follows him into the air.

"Your version is only a cheap copy…," Sasuke muttered behind Naruto as he bound Naruto with the KAGE BUYOU. "Let me prove it to you!"

1ST ATTACK!

Sasuke wrapped his left leg around to kick Naruto in the chest.

2ND ATTACK!

Sasuke followed up with a right punch to Naruto's face.

_What the hell…he's trying to make a clone again! _Sasuke thought.

KANASHIBARI NO JUTSU!

_Crap, I can't make the seal! _Naruto thought, terrified.

_Alright…continuing! _Sasuke thought.

3RD ATTACK!

Sasuke faced Naruto and gave a left punch to his face.

Just before they hit the ground…

SHISHI RENDAN!

Sasuke spun around and delivered the finishing axe kick right on Naruto's chest.

The resulting blow caused a hole in the ground, with Naruto's body in it.

Sasuke landed back on the ground, looking, once again, very tired, as he always did after every SHISHI RENDAN. He was, however, very satisfied that he finally got the best of Naruto!

He kept staring at Naruto's body until…

_Poof! _The body…disappeared…again.

_WTF!_

"Okay, now THAT is just impossible!" Sasuke blurted out hysterically. He didn't care if he had sounded like an idiot just now, because what he just witnessed was physically impossible! It was as if...he was battling against an illusion…

_This is it…_Kakashi thought. _This is where your real test begins…_

_This is weird... if he were using a ninjutsu, I should be able to see him right now, even if he were using an invisible ninjutsu. But, then again…Naruto doesn't usually…oh shit!_

It finally dawned on Sasuke. He turned off his sharingan and looked around to see…

"You know, it's ironic that you had to turn off the sharingan in order to 'see' me," said Naruto, fully visible

Sasuke was relieved, for he now knew. "Alright, tell me, where's the real Naruto?"

"But I AM Naruto, you bakayarou!" 'Naruto' exclaimed.

Sasuke was not amused. "You know, ever since we've entered this exam, you've acting completely out of character. At first I thought it was just a fluke, but it wasn't just your character…your fighting style and your techniques are far beyond what the real Naruto would know! So stop hiding! Where's the real Naruto!"

'Naruto' just laughed. "By foolishly asking such a question, you have already made your biggest mistake. If you want to fix it, then come at me! I'll show you how real I am!"

"By asking me to come, youhave ALSO made your biggest mistake! Now that I know you're not the real Naruto, I don't have to hold back!" Sasuke grinned, as he made the familiar seals and formed…

CHIDORI!

The blinding flashes of light and the ear-popping "chi" sounds of the chakra surrounding Sasuke's left hand were more than enough to incapacitate anyone.

But there was something else about this technique that satisfied Sasuke more…

The power! The sweet ultimate power that Sasuke hadn't felt in a long time – has finally returned to him! He was invincible! All opposers of this power should CRUMBLE!

Sasuke smirked. He would make sure his opponent would feel the full force of the power!

'Naruto' became more serious. "Look, I'm telling you, I'm real, damnit! You keep that away from me!"

Sasuke only grinned more evilly. "The real Naruto would be summoning all of his chakra to his hand right now too. It's a technique I'm sure an imposter like you will never know: The Rasengan! And all you're doing right now is standing there like an idiot! If you want, just do yourself a favor and transform back into your real form so I could give you a nice clean death!"

'Naruto' was now furious. "IDIOT! IT'S ME, DAMNIT! HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT KILLING ME JUST FOR YOUR OWN DAMN POWER!"

"Even if you really were Naruto…I'm sure the real Naruto would understand…that the real objective…is the mission! And sacrifices must be involved for the better cause!" Sasuke exclaimed broadly, and his face now had an insane look all over it.

Sakura was crying. _Sasuke…after all this…you still…_

_Sasuke, with that one statement…, _lamented Kakashi.

_…you failed…,_ Tsunade concluded sadly.

"uuuuuwwwAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Sasuke roared as he dashed at 'Naruto', CHIDORI blazing.

"SASUKE-KUN! NOOOO!"

Right when Sasuke heard Sakura's cry, all of a sudden…

FLASH!

_"I'm going to surpass all other hokages!" Naruto yelled_

FLASH!

_"I want to fight you too, Sasuke!" Naruto declared._

FLASH!

_"I will never let my comrades die…," said Kakashi_

FLASH!

_"You will never use it more than twice. Remember that," said Kakashi._

FLASH!

_"Of course, those who don't follow the rules and regulations are trash. But those who don't protect their friends are worse than trash!" Kakashi declared._

FLASH!

_"I love you with all of my heart!" Sakura declared._

FLASH!

_"Please…don't go," Sakura said._

FLASH!

_"Foolish little brother…," said Itachi_

_"If you wish to kill me…,"_

_"Hate me…,"_

"_Detest me…!"_

The CHIDORI was inches away…!

"NOOOOO!"

Sasuke screamed.


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 7 - **The Darkness That Won't Go Away - You Are My Target!**

The CHIDORI was inches AWAY!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

BOOM!

A loud explosion rocked the room, enveloping the entire fighting floor with smoke…

"NARUTO! SASUKE!" Sakura shouted.

Kakashi did a little bit more; he jumped down to the floor and dashed into the smoke.

_This is bad…this is bad…I can only hope…, _Kakashi thought. "Naruto! Sasuke!" He shouted in the smoke.

"Ka…ka…shi…sen…sei…," came out Naruto's faint voice.

"Naruto, stay still! Don't move!" Kakashi said while still trying to find both of them.

On the balconies…

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Sakura was practically bawling now.

_Na-Naruto-kun! _Hinata was also in tears.

_Damn…, _Kiba thought to himself.

Little by little, the smoke finally cleared, until Kakashi could finally see…

"Hey, Kakashi sensei…," Naruto smiled weakly.

As Kakashi expected, Naruto was indeed lying on the ground, and he was indeed fading away into unconsciousness. What Kakashi didn't see, however, was a single scratch on any part of Naruto.

_Not even the Kyuubi chakra could have healed the CHIDORI wound in time…, _Kakashi thought to himself. _Then that means…! _Kakashi immediately turned around –

And saw Sasuke lying on the ground with his eyes open, his chest heaving up and down as his breathing gradually slowed down to a gentle pattern. Next to his body, there was a hole – no, make that a crater – that could only have been made by –

"Sasuke, all you all right?" Kakashi called out to him.

Sasuke did not answer.

_I…I remember now…, _Sasuke finally realized. _I remember…everything…Naruto…Sakura…Kakashi…and…_He suddenly shivered. _Itachi….I remember my friends…my village…my…my clan…. How…how could…how could I have forgotten them? _He wondered. _How could I have let myself forget such important things…?_

He suddenly recalled the moment he was about to strike, the moment where he saw the look of terror on Naruto's face…

_Never again, _thought a determined Sasuke as he clenched his right fist. _No matter how much power I need, or what I have to do, I will never endanger my friends again!_

Suddenly…

"Sasuke! Snap out of it!" Kakashi towered over Sasuke.

Sasuke snapped out of his reverie. "Ka-Kakashi…"

"Come on, Sasuke, stand up." Kakashi beckoned.

Sasuke, with every remaining ounce of strength in his body, stood up. He looked around, still dazed, until he saw…

"Naruto!" Sasuke made a move to Naruto, but Kakashi grabbed him.

"It's okay, Sasuke, he's only unconscious." Kakashi said calmly.

Sasuke, still dazed, looked at his shaking left hand. "I…I almost killed him."

"And we thought you were gonna go all the way," Kakashi gestured to the balcony, where everyone stood watching with looks of shock, relief, and awe. "Godaime-sama was about ready to fail you, but nobody expected that you would change your mind like that, especially I, because once you launch a course with the CHIDORI, it becomes _very_ difficult to change courses."

Sasuke nodded, still looking a bit weary.

In the balconies…

The two practitioners of the Oniwabanshuu style observed the results.

_So…that's what this match was all about, _thought Shinomori Aoshi as he skillfully sized up the whole situation. _So…Uchiha Sasuke…do you think you made the right choice? Is your torn heart finally healing? Don't fall under such spells of recovery; I already saw that look of determination across your face. You've made a promise to yourself, haven't you? But your determination is weak. Before that look, before you finished that 'chidori', your face went through a range of expressions…. Happiness, Pride, Sadness, and finally, Fear mixed with an unmatched Anger. Your emotions such as the first three might help you recover, but ultimately, with your darkness, you will break your weak promise…. That, I will enforce... ._

_So…Uzumaki Naruto isn't dead…_, thought Makimachi Misao as she looked at Kakashi, who was picking up Naruto and hanging him on his shoulder. _Good…._

Out of all the people in the balconies, Sakura was the most relieved. "Oh, Sasuke…," she said mostly to herself. "You passed, you finally passed…."

The only person who could match Sakura's relief was possibly Hinata. "Naruto-kun…I'm so glad you're still alive…."

Perhaps the absolutely most relieved person of all was Shikamaru, because…

"The preliminary matches are finally over!" Shikamaru exclaimed proudly.

Tsunade sighed, because now she had to give the announcements for the next part.

"Alright, now that the preliminary matches are over, I want all the finalists lined up facing me!" Tsunade commanded.

"Sasuke…we'll talk more later. Right now I'm gonna take Naruto to the hospital. You just listen to whatever Godaime-sama will say," Kakashi said as he disappeared with Naruto's body.

Sasuke turned to see the two Oniwabanshuu warriors walking up to where the line of finalists were. As Shinomori Aoshi walked by, he gave Sasuke a look, then turned and lined up in place. Slightly unnerved, Sasuke lined up in his place.

"Okay, so we're now all finally lined up, good," said Tsunade broadly. "Now before I announce the rules of the finals, there are a couple things I will talk about regarding the last match."

Several finalists looked at Sasuke, then turned away.

"The last match had a special hidden test that was applied only to Uchiha Sasuke," and when she said that, she looked directly at Sasuke. "The circumstances of the special test are of no concern to people outside of Konohagakure, but I will only say that, if Sasuke had not changed his actions at the last minute, he would have failed not just the entire exam…but as a shinobi of this village, and would therefore had been declared an enemy of this village."

Upon hearing this, the other finalists, minus the two oniwabanshuus, looked with surprise at Sasuke for more than three seconds before hesitantly turning back.

Sasuke was no more surpised than they were. _Wait a minute, so that match was…a test to determine my loyalty? Well, now that I've made my promise, I shouldn't complain…._

"Considering that Uchiha Sasuke had passed this special task, he is officially pardoned of all offenses he has committed, and he is also officially declared a CHUUNIN!" Tsunade announced proudly.

The other finalists finally forgot their fears and immediately bombarded a stunned Sasuke with all these comments, such as "You lucky bastard!", "It's just a trick, they did that to me once.", "That's not possible!", "Isn't that against the rules?"

The others in the balconies were also far from relaxed.

_Sasuke…you're finally a chuunin! And you're finally pardoned! _Sakura happily thought.

_Sasuke-kun…, _thought Lee. _Welcome back…my rival._

_We haven't fought before anyway…_, thought Neji.

The other finalists finally settled down and went back into their positions.

Sasuke returned to his position too, but he could hardly keep staying in the same position. _I've done it…, _he thought. _I'm finally a chuunin... father, if you could see me now…_

"Alright, now that you are all finally settled down, I will now announce the rules of the finals!" Tsunade declared.

"First off, the finals are typically done after one month. However, due to certain changes in the rules for this exam, the finals will be held two days from now.

"Second of all, the rules for the finals are the same as the preliminary matches. The differences are that there will be people from every village and country in the world who will be watching you all fight. The finals are used by the nations as a way to recruit the best fighters in the competition, as well as officially recognizing the strength of a village, so make sure you all do your best!

"Finally, there will be judges who will watch your fights and give the proper scores depending on how well you performed in each fight. Remember, winning every single fight and therefore winning the whole thing does not guarantee you a chuunin position. You can lose the first round and still become a chuunin, as long as you perform to your best. Winning each fight only gives more chances to show off more of your stuff!"

"Does anyone have any questions?" Tsunade asked the attentive group.

Nobody raised a hand.

"Good…well, then Shikamaru will hand you pieces of paper with a number written on them," and as she said that, Shikamaru was doing just that. "Now, I want you all to call out your numbers."

One by one, everyone called out their numbers, until Tsunade finally said, "Alright, you all now have a designated fight with an opponent."

Ignoring the shocked looks on some of the finalists' faces, she showed them the chart.

Sasuke took a glance at the chart, and sure enough…

_It looks like I'll be able to fight you sooner than expected…, _thought Shinomori Aoshi as he looked at Sasuke, who was still looking at the chart, scanning for Naruto's name, until…

_Uzumaki Naruto…_, thought Makimachi Misao. _Target acquired…_

Tsunade wrapped up the chart and looked at the finalists, who now looked a little nervous.

"As I told you all before, the finals will start in two days. Till then, you should all take a rest and think of strategies you can use against your opponents."

"So, now, until then…good luck to all of you, and I will see you all again in two days," Tsunade said as she smiled, which caused some of the finalists to faint with excitement.

Before she left, however, she took Sasuke aside and whispered in a very low voice, "Even though you are a chuunin, you must still participate in this tournament."

Sasuke nodded, "I understand, but –

Tsunade interrupted, "I know you are confused, especially since Naruto is also participating despite the fact that he's not allowed to. However, you two must understand that the finals are where your mission will finally be executed, which is why both of you still must participate."

Sasuke was puzzled. "Our mission?"

"Didn't Kakashi tell you about the A-class mission involved in this exam? Nevermind, just – if you need to know more, go ask Kakashi later. As for now, I must go. I can only hope that both of you will be well prepared to carry out this mission."

With that, she turned and left the room.

(The next day…)

Tsunade walked into her office, having spent the morning discussing the tournament with the other country leaders. She was tired, and wanted her usual beer, but now she had to take care of something very important…

"Alright, you can all come out now, it's the right time," Tsunade announced to no one in particular.

As if on cue, three mysterious ninjas suddenly materialized in her office.

Tsunade turned around and faced the three ninjas with a stern expression on her face. "Alright, tell me what you all know."


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 8 - **Secrets Revealed - Finally, It's Time to Fight!**

One could hardly call them ninjas, for their physical appearances were abysmal. Each of them had a horribly skinny body that was covered with identical pitch-black ninja clothing. The three of them also sported identical black masks that shrouded their entire faces. Had it not been for their names (which were also almost identical), Tsunade probably wouldn't have figured out who was who.

Tsunade faced the three ninjas with a stern expression on her face and said, "Tell me what you all know."

The first ninja spoke, though his lip outline never moved (it wasn't yet clear to Tsunade whether they actually had mouths), "It is as you predicted, Tsunade-sama. The man known as Shinomori Aoshi and his affiliate Makimachi Misao are definitely not of this world. Even though the sword only slit my mind clone's throat open during the battle, I could still feel that the power behind his chakra is not related to ours."

"It is the same as my battle," replied the second ninja with the same monotone voice as the first. "From the moment the girl's kunai bulleted through my mind clone's head, I could feel a foreign power that cannot co-exist with ours."

The third one did not "say" anything.

Tsunade tensed. It wasn't natural for her suspicions to be always right, except when it came to medical situations. Usually if something turns out in her favor, there's always something else…

"Is there anything more you have to tell me?" Tsunade pressed the three ninjas.

"We are now left with the question of why they came to this world, out of all worlds." The first ninja explained. "As of now, their motives are not entirely clear. Probably the best course of action now is to wait and see what their next moves are."

"It is not a good idea to wait, Tsunade-sama," the second ninja disagreed. "For all we know, these intruders are already performing their next move as we speak. It would be wise to destroy them as soon as possible."

"The sooner we rush in, the sooner our destruction will come. You know as well as I that facing unknown threats will lead to costly mistakes, Kozaki," the first ninja pointed out.

The second ninja, now revealed as Kozaki, turned his head towards the first ninja. It was the first action any of them had done so far.

"If we destroy the enemy quickly, there will no need to waste time trying to know these threats, Konami," Kozaki said, his voice rising rapidly.

The third ninja stiffened.

"We cannot think of them as enemies before they have even done anything, Kozaki," Konami also turned his head towards Kozaki.

"As always, you are forever naïve, Konami," Kozaki scoffed. "The initiative must always be taken by those who desire to accomplish."

"But the sacrifices are not worth such an accomplishment," Konami replied, his voice growing more powerful. "Even you should remember what sacrifices result in one's life, as I too remember…"

"…You dare mock me?" Kozaki responded with a voice that contained a powerful aura.

"I am merely satirizing your belief that sacrifices must be made in order to succeed." If Konami's face was shown, it would have a mocking expression. "By sacrificing what we hold dear, I intend to prove my position. How does it feel to be on the receiving side of your belief?"

Tsunade was about to yell out, when –

"Konami…Kozaki…you are in the presence of a hokage…" the third ninja spoke with a deep, powerful voice that reverberated the room.

At once, the two arguing ninjas resumed their original positions as if nothing had happened.

"You are absolutely correct, Kodachi-sama…," said Konami.

"Your word cannot be disputed, Kodachi-sama…," Kozaki said also.

Tsunade relaxed. "Thank you, Kodachi-sama."

"Your thanks is nothing of importance, Tsunade…," Kodachi replied.

"I see…do you anything of importance, Kodachi-sama?" Tsunade asked.

"My knowledge has never betrayed me," said Kodachi with his voice echoing in the room. "It has told me information regarding the Kyuubi vessel."

"The Kyuubi vessel? You mean –

"Yes, the one that I took control over," revealed Kodachi. "The one called Uchiha had an insight that exceeded most humans'. He easily knew that the vessel was not acting of his own accord. His power alone could have annihilated your own army. Although his level of power was successfully measured, it was fruitless."

"Fruitless?"

"The power of the Uchiha was not the one sought."

"So then –

"The Kyuubi vessel holds a potential that would surpass the one who fought it. As of now, its destiny is shrouded; I could not easily foresee it. My knowledge, however, speaks of the vessel's fate that the Red Moon unit will not be the only hunters…"

Tsunade stared as a dawning comprehension appeared on her face. "Red Moon…You mean Akatsuki!"

"You must be careful, Tsunade," Kodachi continued with his enigmatic words. "The hole goes much deeper than before…the Kyuubi vessel's fate is something that it can change…but that will depend on his power…"

"I…understand," Tsunade said a bit hesitantly.

"You do not understand," Kodachi interjected.

"I…I will work hard to understand…," Tsunade said with more vigor.

"That is the correct answer," replied Kodachi.

(Meanwhile…)

"Naruto, you sure you're all right?" Sakura asked for the tenth time.

"Sakura, for the tenth time, I'm fine!" Naruto yelled. "Look at me! Do you see any cuts or bruises? No!"

"Naruto…you _never_ have any cuts or bruises; they just heal themselves all the time!" Sakura slapped her forehead, once again amazed by Naruto's lack of brilliance. "But that wasn't what I was talking about! Don't you remember anything at all about the match yesterday?"

Naruto's eyes squinted in his usual fox manner. "Of course I remember, Sakura-chan! We had a match and it turned out to be a draw!" I was just glad that Obaa-chan allowed me to be in the finals!"

"Did she let you become a chuunin too?" Sasuke asked very teasingly.

At those words, Naruto practically exploded. "NOW THAT'S SOMETHING I CAN'T TOLERATE! HOW DOES A GUY LIKE YOU BECOME A CHUUNIN FASTER THAN ME!"

"...Well, you've always known the reason why, but I'll remind you anyway, since your memory is screwed up," Sasuke said as if it were plainly obvious. "I'm. Better. Than. You," He emphasized each word as he drove Naruto to pure pissed-off mode.

"ALKJIUDFGBNMNBKIFJUDHRUAJBXJ!" Naruto let loose a string of nonsensical verbosity.

Sasuke might have gone too far, but after he had set his heart at peace, he was willing to try to be a bit friendlier, and he was doing that…by plummeting Naruto with more insults.

Sakura, for one, could not have been more happier with Sasuke for making such an effort. Despite this, though, she was also willing to play her part and stop making such a fuss out of Sasuke all the time. She also attempted to refrain from saying "Sasuke-kun," because she made it so that "Sasuke-kun" was a mark of the past, and just plain "Sasuke" was the start of maturity.

_But I still can't trust him…,_ Sakura thought sadly.

The chaos that were happening were finally put to a halt when…

_Poof!_

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" Kakashi greeted with his usual offbeat behavior.

Naruto, forgetting his previous anger, immediately launched into a new one. "Kakashi-sensei, why the hell are you late again!"

Before, the three Team 7 members were actually waiting for Kakashi.

Sakura, emerging from her thoughts, also grew angry, "You're always late, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Kakashi, what is it with you and coming late?" said Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura gawked at Sasuke, for Sasuke had never once complained before about Kakashi's tardiness.

"Who are you and what have you done with Sasuke?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke smirked, "I've killed him, usuradonkachi. I've killed him and made a new Sasuke," he told a nonplussed Naruto.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei, why don't you start telling us what you want to say before Naruto collapses from his stupidity?" Sakura suggested fervently.

"Yes, that would be wise," said Kakashi while watching Naruto turning red from thinking WAY too hard. "Alright, I've told you guys before that this A-class mission was originally designed for Naruto and Sasuke. This time, however, you are now a part of the mission, Sakura."

Sakura was puzzled, "I'm not complaining, but why is it now that I get to be a part of the mission?"

"Sakura, technically you already were a part of it…I just never told you about it because you were not involved within the first part of the mission. Now that the first part is over, your role in the next part is more emphasized," Kakashi explained.

"Why, what do I have to do, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura wondered.

Kakashi grinned, which was only known to himself as nobody could actually see it, "During the finals, YOU are the referee!"

Sakura was very surprised.

"What? M-Me? But I…I never did any of the referee-ing before!" Sakura protested.

"Sakura, if anything happens, you will be the closest person to help out those who are injured," Kakashi said, referring to Sakura's healing abilities. "And with your genjutsu abilities, you can also detect any abnormalities in the arena and therefore take initiative."

"I guess…but there's something else that's bothering me," Sakura mentioned.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked.

"Before this entire exam, you told Naruto and Sasuke that their mission was to promote the level of this village…but it looks like there's more to this mission than what you told us, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura suspected.

"Hehe…as usual, you are correct, Sakura," Kakashi replied. In an authority voice, he added, "Okay, I have told you two that this mission was to promote the level of this village. To be honest, that is still your mission. However, like I said before, that was the first part of the mission. I had no reason to tell you about the second part of the mission until now, and this part is even more important that the first part."

"Does it have anything to do with the two ninjas who killed those men during the preliminaries?" Sasuke asked.

"So you noticed it too. That's good," Kakashi complimented. "Now as you both know, the average ninja never shows his real moves during the preliminary matches. Therefore…

"Therefore, during the finals, they will show their real ones," Sasuke analyzed. "Am I right in saying that our final match-ups weren't a coincidence?"

"In this village, both you and Naruto have the most unique powers," Kakashi remarked. "Only against such unique powers will the two ninjas show their full powers. Plus, as decided before, you and Naruto are the only two Leaf genins in this exam, so you would have matched up with them anyway."

"But…but Kakashi-sensei," Naruto, who was surpisingly silent, finally spoke up. "Why do we have to fight them anyway? Are they special…?"

"They are special, Naruto…they are not of this world."

That made Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all lean forward.

"Are you serious?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Not of this world…?" Sakura wondered skeptically.

"That's not possible…," said Sasuke.

"Yes, they are definitely not of this world," Kakashi emphasized. "Godaime-sama had long suspected that a foreign power was interfering in this world. Their chakra is different from ours, and therefore they cannot harmonize with our chakra. Because we do not yet know what they want, or why they even came here, Godaime-sama decided that the best way to encounter these foreign people without directly making contact was to develop a place where the foreign people would meet."

"A place where the foreign ninjas meet…the chuunin exam?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, Godaime-sama decided that if there was anything that would attract other fighters, yet still remain unsuspecting to other nations, it would have to have been the chuunin exam."

"So this whole thing was a cover-up?" Sasuke asked.

"Wait, so I won't get to be chuunin again! Damn!" Naruto bellowed.

"Naruto! Do you really think this is the best time for that?" Sakura scolded.

"No, this chuunin exam is very real," said Kakashi in response to Sasuke's question. "It's just that, using the chuunin exam, we would continue our underground investigation of the foreign people. The chuunin exam was used so that no one would ever know what we intended. Everyone in this village has heard the news that the chuunin exam will boost their village's prosperity. Only Godaime-sama and us know the real reason behind the exam."

"Sasuke, you and Naruto were the only two people for this exam because you two were the only genin from the "original twelve" that did not promote to chuunin yet. Yes, I know that there were other genin such as Konohamaru who could have entered it along with you. But as I said before, this mission was assigned to only you two, and to add another person would have slowed us down. Plus, you two are the most unique people in this village, as I said before, and your powers would definitely have attracted the foreign ninjas, as I have no doubt they already have."

"There is also another reason why both of you were put into this exam…," Kakashi began.

"…It was to test my loyalty…," Sasuke said in a low voice.

Kakashi was surprised, but then collected himself. "Yes, it was to test your loyalty and to test your ability of taking on this mission. You may recall the last match when you made that pivotal decision. If you failed, you would not only fail the exam, but you would have been dropped from the mission. Naruto as your opponent was essential; you would not have reacted any other way with anyone else. Plus, your opponent couldn't have been anyone else anyway; as Naruto _is _the only other genin."

"I see…I understand," Sasuke muttered.

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei, let me see if I had gotten this all straight," Sakura wanted to know. "This chuunin exam was specifically designed to lure the two foreign ninjas. Naruto and Sasuke were picked because their powers would have made the ninjas unleash their full power and thus we would get some knowledge of who they are and what they are capable of. Once they figure out who they are, if they somehow attempt to cause harm, the entire audience would be watching them, and they would be marked as enemies to the world. Am I right so far, Kakashi-sensei?"

"You were right, Sakura," Kakashi replied.

"Alright, then I have just one more question," Sakura said.

"Shoot."

"What was the purpose of those two ninja's matches in the preliminaries?" Sakura wanted to know. "Were they a part of the plan too?"

"Actually, they were," said Kakashi. "You see, Konami and Kozaki, the two deceased opponents of the ninjas, were never "deceased".

"What does that mean?"

"Those two were never really there; they had used their "mind clones" to fight the two ninjas, making it look like they died, but they never died." Kakashi explained.

"But why would they do such a thing?"

"They did it because they were ordered to…by the Hokage," Kakashi replied.

"The Hokage…ordered –

"Those two were actually spies working under the Hokage," Kakashi explained further. "Their job was to confirm the Hokage's suspicions of the two ninjas." By fighting the two foreign ninjas, they managed to discover that their chakra was not like ours. There was a third spy, and he was in the room too, only just…not in the room."

"Huh?" Sakura was confused.

"He was in it…but his body wasn't actually _there_…," Kakashi gave Sakura a knowing glance.

"…Oh," Sakura finally understood.

Naruto, who only understood half of what his teacher said, finally got fed up and said, "Okay, I can't take it anymore! This is getting too confusing! The night is coming fast, and I need to rest up! I'll see you guys later!" He turned and left.

"Sounds like a good idea," said Kakashi. "Why don't you get some rest too, Sasuke?"

"Alright then, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Sasuke said, as he left for home.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'll go home too." Sakura said.

"Alright then, see you guys later!" Kakashi yelled as he disappeared.

The three members of Team 7 walked their separate ways.

_What a confusing mission..., _thought Naruto. _But no matter what, even if I don't know what it is, I'll still follow through!_

_It's going to be a big day tomorrow…,_ thought a worried Sakura. _I can only hope it doesn't turn out like last time…_

_Shinomori…Aoshi…I can feel darkness in your heart…, _thought Sasuke. _Exactly whose darkness is stronger…mine…or yours?_

(The next morning…)

"All preparations complete, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune exclaimed.

"Alright, good!" cheered a happy Tsunade as she finally finished her procrastinated work (she drank two gallons after the meeting).

_Team 7…,_ Tsunade thought to herself. _You had better be ready…I have a feeling this will be bigger than anything else before…_


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 9 - **Itai! That Hurts!**** Naruto vs. Misao!**

"WOW, there's so many people here!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You just noticed that, idiot?" Sasuke jeered.

"That's the fifth time he's said that," Sakura groaned from the arena, for she could hear Naruto's loud voice all the way up in the balcony, where he stayed at with Sasuke.

Actually Naruto had a point; there were even more people at this year's finals than the last chuunin exam. Even the fighting arena appeared to have been increased in size. In addition to the forest and the sand, there was now a small lake on the fighting grounds. The increased amount of people was probably because of Sasuke's return to the scene. As of now, everyone wanted the Uchiha battle to commence, but before that, they had to deal with…incredibly boring battles.

_Sigh…I hate to admit it, but all of the battles so far have been boring…, _Sakura lamented. The battles that occurred last time were far more interesting, like when Naruto pummeled Neji, or when Shikamaru pulled a "dark horse". This year, however…these guys seriously needed practice.

_But at least now we'll get to see some real action!_ thought Sakura happily as she proudly announced, "Now the next match will be…UZUMAKI NARUTO VS. MAKIMACHI MISAO!"

There was a flood of applause, particularly from the "original twelve", who were anxious to see Naruto's performance after the two and a half years. Tsunade and the other jounin leaders also cheered as well.

"Yeah, Naruto!" cried Kiba.

"The Flames of Youth burn within you!" yelled a fire-y eyed Lee.

"You can do it!" shouted Chouji.

_Hmm…it's troublesome…but oh, what the hell…_ "Go Naruto!" yelled Shikamaru.

"Show me what you are made of…" Neji grinned.

Naruto gave a loud cheer and actually jumped off the balcony railing and landed into the arena. Following suit, Makimachi Misao did the same thing.

The two fighters went to their sides and faced each other.

_So, you're one of the "aliens"…_, thought Naruto, not knowing what to refer to the girl except "alien". _Hmm, that's weird; I don't sense any killer intent within her…_

"Uzumaki Naruto, hn?" Makimachi Misao inquired.

Naruto, who had not expected her to talk, immediately launched into his typical personality, "Yeah, that's right! I am Uzumaki Naruto! Before we start, I'm going to promise you that I will win! Because that's –

" – Your ninja way, correct?" Misao flatly finished.

Naruto totally did not expect that, "Uh…um, yeah! So try your hardest, because I'm –

" – Going to beat me? You shouldn't toy around with words, kid," Misao stomped on his words again.

Sakura knew something had to be done, or else Naruto would lose his cool, "Alright, both of you stop talking now! Let's hurry up and start the match!"

Naruto grumbled, but Misao said nothing.

_Naruto…do your best,_ thought Sakura. "Alright, let the match begin!"

"oooaaaaaaaHHHHHHH! Naruto immediately charged at Misao.

_What the crap is that idiot doing? Baka!_ Sasuke thought frustratingly.

Naruto was so close to Misao before he realized…

_What the…where the hell did she go!_

"Behind you."

Naruto whipped his head around to see –

"OH SHIT!"

In a span of two seconds Naruto did two things:

KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!

And then –

KAWARIMI NO JUTSU!

The kunai that was inches from Naruto's sliced right through his head.

_Oh no, Naruto!_ Sakura cried out in her mind.

But just then –

_Poof!_

The little smoke cleared to reveal – Naruto!

_What the shit…was that?_ Sasuke was stunned.

_Impossible…Naruto knew this?_ Kakashi was also stunned.

The others were quite stunned as well.

"Ka…Kakashi, you're the technique expert; tell us what the…what the hell he just did!" Gai said while staring in awe.

"Sh-shunjutsu...," Kakashi shakily replied.

"Shunjutsu?" Gai repeated.

"Also known as 'Instant jutsu'. It's another branch of jutsus that only a few people can fully explore. Shunjutsu does not have a specific set of jutsus like taijutsu or ninjutsu, but instead it is made up of jutsu combinations." Kakashi explained.

"Jutsu combinations?" Kurenai asked.

"As in, a mix of two or more jutsus from any of the three branches – ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu. The combining jutsus can combine only if they can 'link' with each other. For example, because Naruto was able to 'link' his Kawarimi no Jutsu to his Kage Bunshin Kawarimi no Jutsu because he had created a clone which he could instantly switch places with. The user must also have full mastery of at least one of the mixing jutsus. In Naruto's case, since he had mastery over Kage Bunshin, he therefore did not have to form the Kage Bunshin hand seal, therefore allowing him easy access to Kawarimi no Jutsu. In the end, the two combining jutsus will form a new jutsu made up of the original jutsus." Kakashi explained further.

"Although…since it's an 'Instant' type, that would mean there is speed involved, correct?" Gai asked.

"Yes, you would need a tremendous amount of speed for it to work, because the combining jutsus have to not only 'link', they would have to occur almost simultaneously. Because a kunai was inches away from Naruto's head, he had to force himself to instantly use those two jutsus at the same time. Although, for Naruto to do something like this…he's really an unpredictable guy...," Kakashi mused.

"Or maybe he was just lucky," Asuma piped up.

"Yeah…that could be it too," Kakashi agreed.

Unbeknownst to Kakashi, Neji had managed to catch every word.

_Shunjutsu…? _thought Neji curiously. _Very interesting…_

Sasuke, on the other hand, was concentrating on something else.

_Naruto…did a 'shunjutsu'?_ wondered Sasuke if that was even possible. _A while ago, he couldn't even do a bunshin properly, but now…damnit!_

On the arena floor, Sakura was also stunned.

_A-amazing…_, thought Sakura admiringly. _I have to learn that too!_

"That…that was…so AWESOME!" Naruto cried, still astounded that he was still alive. "I created a new jutsu without even thinking about it! This is just too cool!"

_But that was scary! _Naruto thought fearfully. _The moment she shot a kunai at me…her killer intent shot up like crazy! It was enough to cut my soul into a million pieces! I've never felt anything like this before…_

Naruto stared at his hand – it was shaking.

_This is worse…, _he thought – and he also found out he was breathing a little hard. _This is even worse than fighting Orochimaru…. She can miss on purpose and still hurt me with her chakra…so this is what Kakashi-sensei was talking about…_

"Nice trick, can you do it again?"

Naruto turned around to respond – to see another kunai right in front of him!

UH…KAGE BUNSHIN KAWARIMI NO JUTSU!

The kunai hit Naruto's head dead on, but from the moment it struck, everyone heard another _poof! _sound, and when the smoke cleared, Naruto was still there!

"Hmm…Kage Bunshin Kawarimi no Jutsu…has a nice ring to it," said Kakashi thoughtfully.

"To create a new jutsu in the middle of a battle is certainly an admirable feat, Naruto-kun," Misao replied.

"But that jutsu looks like it takes a lot out of you, doesn't it, Naruto-kun?" She teased.

_It's not the jutsu, _thought Naruto feverishly as he tried to stop his hand from shaking so much. _It's her chakra power…it feels like it's cutting away at mine every time she does something…, _Naruto noticed he was breathing even more heavily than before.

_But there's something odd about her chakra…_Naruto pondered as he tried to regain composure. _It doesn't seem to connect with her…_.

Naruto, using as much energy as he could, managed to grin and said, "If I look tired, it's because I'm tired of this battle being so boring! Come on, let's kick it up a little bit!"

"That last sentence just sentenced you to your grave…," Misao smiled coldly.

Naruto watched while he panted, as she once more disappeared into thin air…


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 10 - **Rage Explosion! Two Demons Collide!**

"Am I here? Or here?" Misao playfully sang as she disappeared and reappeared in different places.

Naruto screamed in his head, _Shit…her power keeps cutting into me! But…I can't…lose!_

TAJYUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!

Over a hundred clones appeared on the field.

"Let's do this!" All the Narutos yelled.

Ten of them leaped into the air where Misao appeared.

"You're gonna die!" they cried as they each prepared a kunai.

Misao smirked.

"Okay, you're dead," she said as she killed two clones. "And so are you guys," she killed off two more. "And finally…!"

KAITEN KECHO GERI!

With one spin, her usually straight kick spun like a hurricane and decimated all six remaining Naruto clones who were surrounding her.

. "Alright…now!" Naruto shouted.

Misao turned around in the air…to see a clone zooming at her!

In his palm was a –

RASENGAN!

She destroyed it just in time and landed back on the ground…to see another –

RASENGAN!

- shoved right into her stomach.

"AHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he pushed all his strength into the attack.

Naruto's Rasengan, although not complete, still managed to send Misao slamming right into the opposite wall.

"Yeah, you liked that?" Naruto cried, although he was still breathing heavily. "If you two are gonna try anything funny here, that attack next time will be full power!"

"YEAH!" cried the other Narutos.

Misao stood up quite rigidly and stared at Naruto with that same stony expression on her face. "What makes you think we're going to do anything here?" Misao asked.

"I…I don't know! Your chakra is too harmful! You guys are probably going to use your chakra to attack this village, right?" Naruto demanded.

At those words, Misao burst out laughing for the first time, then immediately resumed her original expression.

"We have no desire to attack such a pathetic village," Misao's emotionless voice said. "We have only one target…you, Naruto-kun," she said as she jabbed a finger right at a terrified Naruto.

"Me? Then…you guys must be from Akatsuki! I knew we didn't get all of you!" Naruto vehemently exclaimed.

"Akatsuki? Hmph, you must be dreaming…Akatsuki can't even _touch_ our power," said Misao, and as she said it, an odd dark glow began to surround her.

Naruto stood stunned, transfixed by the growing aura around Misao that seemed to radiate terrifying powers of darkness, "Wha…what is this!"

The aura grew larger in size, until it completely engulfed Misao to the point of zero visibility. Suddenly, bolts of purple lightning flashed out of the aura, some extending to Naruto's feet, of which he had to jump back to avoid the sheer power. He couldn't avoid, however, the increasing level of Misao's chakra power; before, it merely cut into Naruto's power, but now, it overwhelmed Naruto to the point of self-combustion.

_This power…the pain! _Naruto screamed in his head as he violently fought to prevent his soul from being crushed by the monstrous force. _This level of power is more horrible than the one she showed before! There's no mistaking it; this type of chakra definitely doesn't belong to her!_

The aura eventually settled, but not before purple balls of dark fire ignited around the arena in a ring-like formation. The glow surrounding Misao slowly faded away, to reveal…Naruto gasped.

Misao was still standing there, but her appearance had totally changed. Her usually neat garb was now raggedly looking, along with her wrist and leg guards, which were now protruding spikes. Her fine, long hair was now a flowing, ragged mess, and it illuminated a devilish purple glare. And unless Naruto was imagining things, her form also became more brute-looking and more muscle-toned, and it also illuminated the same glare as her hair did. It was also surrounded with a flowing aura of electricity that tended to shoot off bolts of lightning from her. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of Misao's new atrocious form was her face: It no longer held any trace of the cute-yet-stony-faced expression that Misao had. Instead, her face became more taunt, and her eyes now bled a bloody red iris color. In every aspect of it, it showed nothing but pure demonic ferocity. The new facial expression was enough to send chills down Naruto's spine, in addition to her new power completely ripping Naruto apart.

"Well now, Naruto-kun…I'd say I've 'kicked it up a bit'…_don't you agree!"_ Dark Misao smiled evilly, as a flow of electricity zapped near her head.

Naruto, feeling the pressure of Dark Misao's chakra immobilizing him, could only stutter nonsensical noises as he stood frozen in his place.

The others were also frozen in fear.

_This…this is bad…, _stuttered Sakura in her head as tears flowed down her face because of the pain of the evil power. _Naruto…get out of there…Naruto!_

_Naruto…, _thought a terrified Kakashi. _If you're going to just stand there, then give up! Otherwise, get out of there! _

_No…Naruto-kun! _cried Hinata.

_Shit…at this rate, Naruto's not going to last…, _analyzed Sasuke despite the fact that he was positively shaking. _Naruto…your last shot is with that "special power" of yours…you gotta hurry up or else…!_

_I…I can't move…,_ thought Naruto fearfully as he impulsively looked into the devilish eyes of Dark Misao (which was dumb, because looking into them caused another overwhelming pain for Naruto).

"Alright, well then…," said Dark Misao almost hungrily. _"Let's get started..."_

Instantly, she disappeared and reappeared right in front of Naruto.

_Ho-holy shit!_

With lightning blows faster than Rock Lee's speed, Misao punched and kicked Naruto over and over again, until she sent him flying straight into the wall.

"There's still more!" Dark Misao yelled.

Before Naruto could sink to the ground, Misao launched a volley of machine-gun punches right into Naruto's stomach.

_Cr…crap! This…this fuckin…pain!_ Naruto screamed in his mind.

His thoughts were interrupted by Misao, who grabbed him with only one hand and, using the same hand, threw him back to the center of the arena.

"Ungh!" grunted Naruto as he roughly landed onto the ground.

He looked wearily at the ground, where it was later covered with blood after he vomited it up.

_Sh…shit…_

Suddenly Naruto heard the icy voice of Dark Misao, "I don't blame you for wanting to sleep, in fact…_let me help you…!"_

YAMI RYU: KAGE ARASHI!

Dark Misao leaped into the air, where she launched a shower of kunai down at Naruto.

Naruto, unfortunately, could not dodge them.

"AAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!"

The kunai all struck home; Naruto was now lying in a pool of blood, with all of his vital points punctured, save for his head.

_Crap…I'm gonna die…,_ Naruto thought desperately as he tried to move his punctured left arm, which didn't move. Even though his eyes were starting to blur, he could see the faint image of Dark Misao slowly walking up to him.

_No…no, I can't die like this! I still have something to do!_

_DAMN FOX! GIVE ME YOUR POWER!_

"Hehehe…_I'm going to enjoy gutting you…,_" Dark Misao leered as she took out a _very _long kunai. Suddenly, she saw some smoke rising around Naruto, "Don't bother raising your chakra," she lectured. _"It's over for you…."_

Naruto instantly faced a puzzled Dark Misao, "THAT'S MY LINE, BITCH!"

A reddish-orange chakra surround Naruto as he screamed, "ooooooaaaaaaAAAAAAHHH!"

The resulting chakra exploded so suddenly that the force knocked Dark Misao back a couple feet.

"What…what the hell…!" Dark Misao was slightly unnerved.

"Don't get so hasty…I HAVEN'T YET SHOWN MY FULL POWER!" A raging Naruto replied as he once more screamed in an aura of red and orange.


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 11 - **Despair...Redemption...Tragedy of the Oniwabanshuu...**

"OOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as his whiskers became more prominent, fangs grew in his teeth, claws extended from his nails, and his eye color turned red around his slitted pupils. To complete the whole picture –

_His wounds…the wounds that I gave him…they're healing!_ thought Dark Misao, whose face showed a bit of astonishment for the first time as she saw all of her kunai pop out from Naruto's skin.

_Naruto's finally bringing out his power…_, thought Sasuke.

_It's that same power from before! _Neji thought.

_So…this is the power of the kyuubi…,_ thought Tsunade.

_A-amazing!_ Sakura thought speechlessly.

_Don't lose control now, Naruto, _thought Kakashi.

"ALRIGHT, LET'S GO!" Naruto shouted.

_He…he disappeared!_ Dark Misao thought.

WHAM! Naruto clocked Dark Misao straight across the field.

_Shit…he's fast! _

Just as Dark Misao was about to hit the wall, Naruto reappeared behind her and delivered a sidekick straight to her backside, making her fly the opposite way.

"Urrggh!" Dark Misao cried as she coughed up a little blood.

Just before she hit the ground, Naruto reappeared once more and grabbed her by the right arm, swinging her back onto her feet.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Naruto screamed once more as Dark Misao tried desperately to maintain her sanity over the chakra tempest.

_This…this fear…I haven't felt this fear…or this power…since…, _Dark Misao looked on with horror as Naruto pierced her with a death glare. Suddenly a blue light shone behind Naruto. _Shit…this could be it…please help me…Aoshi-sama!_

"RRRAAARRGGGHH!" yelled Naruto as he brought to Dark Misao a full-powered –

RASENGAN!

The arena exploded with a sheer display of light.

The light eventually settled, but the people still couldn't see what was going on through the smoke.

"Naruto! Naruto, where the hell are you!" Sakura cried out, absolutely worried.

The smoke finally cleared to reveal a panting Naruto returned to his normal form.

_Weird…, _thought Naruto. _The minute I used my technique on her, it felt like all of her dark chakra just disappeared…and then there was a different feeling after that…_.

A light bulb brightened.

_I think I've finally figured it out._

The smoke also cleared to reveal a fatigue-ridden Misao, also reverted to normal form.

"Hey, Jo-chan!" Naruto knew what her name was, but as she was his enemy at this point, he felt he wasn't "friend" enough to say it. "You all right, jo-chan?"

Misao panted, wanting to deliver a comeback, but lacked the energy to say it, so she just settled with, "Who're you calling Jo-chan, Kozou! If you want to finish me off, hurry up and do it now!"

Naruto ignored her statement, "Your chakra…that power that you used against me…that wasn't yours, was it?"

"Don't talk nonsense, Kozou, of course it's mine," Misao retorted, although deep down, she was surprised that he managed to figure out the truth.

"You're the one talking nonsense, Jo-chan! I knew throughout this whole match that your 'darkness' power wasn't really yours!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Heh…if you already knew about it, then why didn't you do anything to stop it earlier?" Misao asked.

Naruto folded his arms and smiled. "Simple," he replied.

"I had already mastered most of my control over the kyuubi powers inside me, so I was able to call upon it at any time. But I held it back, because I needed to know more about this power that you had. The more you had beaten the hell out of me, the more I discovered about your secret," Naruto explained.

"Oh, and just what exactly is my secret?" Misao asked.

"That you yourself were also in pain from your own power! Not only that, you were also starting to lose your own control over your own power! I don't know much about chakra (in fact, I always forget some of it), but I do know that if you're not in control of your power, then that power must not be yours! Something else must have taken control, and attempted to hurt you in exchange for giving you power! I know this, because that's happened to a friend of mine before!" Naruto exclaimed.

In the stands, Sasuke twitched nervously.

"I found out all this when I was lying on the ground after you did your shower-of-kunai thing," Naruto explained. "My eyes were starting to blur, and even though I could barely see you, there was something on your face that even a blind man could see…an expression of pain…an expression of pain and sadness with your insanity…."

"Th-that was because I was recovering from that attack you did to me before!" Misao stammered.

"No…you were in pain from your own power…I might have a feeling that you knew the power was dangerous, that you knew what it would do to you, but you did it anyway…there must have been a reason why you did it, but nevertheless…why would you use such a power anyway!" Naruto's anger flared again.

_What the…since when did Naruto become this insightful?_ Sasuke pondered.

_He's…no way, he couldn't be… _"Are you…can you possibly be…Himura?" Misao wondered.

"Himura? Who the hell is Himura? But that's not the point! I knew you were in pain, and I knew you were going to die, so that's why I had to use my kyuubi power to save you from your pain! We may be total strangers to each other, but I don't ever want to see anyone suffering under that darkness!" Naruto yelled.

"Bakayarou…why does all that even concern you!" Misao shouted.

"I…I don't really know…," said Naruto after thinking about it. "But I do know that if I have to do something, no matter the reason, I have to do it! Because that's my –

"Ninja way…," finished Misao, finally understanding the gravity of that expression. She sat there for a few more minutes, then with a great effort, stood back up.

"Kozou…you mind telling me…why you're here…?" Misao asked.

Naruto looked puzzled, "What the…what are you saying, all of a sudden?"

"Just answer the damn question…," Misao wearily shot back.

Naruto still looked a little confused before he replied, "That's not even a question! I train to be the best and surpass all of the Hokages! And then, I will have everyone acknowledge my existence! That is everything to me!"

"Everything to you, huh? Is it worth so much that you would sacrifice everything for it?"

Naruto looked nonplussed. "Sacrifice…everything?"

"Che…I thought you understood me, but I guess I was mistaken," Misao said desolately.

"Huh?"

Misao looked down at her hand, and for the first time, a look of utter hopelessness appeared on her face.

"This hand," she said with an air of sadness and reminiscence. "This very hand once yearned to be strong. It wanted at one point to be a force that could protect everyone from anything. It wanted…to be acknowledged…."

_Acknowledged…?_ Naruto wondered.

"Back then, life had gone back to normal. Himura had finally worked out his problems with Enishi and we went back home to our home – the Oniwabanshuu. From then on, we would always do the same thing as we had always done, protecting the people and working to rebuild Kyoto."

Misao continued with tears starting to leak out of her eyes, "When life went back to normal, I had thought that I was fully qualified enough to be a full member of the Oniwabanshuu. I had led the clan through the battle with Shishio's men and helped to protect everyone at our base, Aoiya. Unfortunately, I was denied to be a part of the team. The other Oniwabanshuu had thought that I was still too young and too weak to be a part of it.

"At the time, I was so angry that my talents were underminded that I wanted to show how much I had grown. When the Oniwabanshuu was assigned a mission, I secretly went along with them despite the fact that I was not allowed to go along on the mission. My actions were reckless, for I had not realized the high level of the mission. As a result, there was a huge accident, and my best friend, Omasu, died in that mission."

Misao's tears were now pouring, "B-because of my m-m-mistake, I was removed from being even a ninja, and prevented from going on any missions. The worst part of it all was when Aoshi-sama told me…he told me…th-that I-I w-was…worth nothing."

Naruto was shocked at those words. _Worth…nothing…?_ he thought horrendously.

"At that moment, I truly wanted to die, because not only had I failed to become stronger, I had also failed to protect my friend and worst of all, I had lost Aoshi-sama's respect. There was nothing for me in life anymore, so one day, I decided to end it all…."

"…until that incident."

"Incident?" Naruto spoke out on impulse.

"Aoshi-sama…," Misao started to tremble violently. "destroyed the Oniwabanshuu."

Naruto stood there, stunned, "WHAT!"

"He destroyed the Aoiya, and then slaughtered all of the remaining members, including my caretaker, Okina," said Misao, ignoring Naruto's outburst.

"What! But WHY!"

"That was exactly what I was thinking at that time," Misao answered. "I could not understand why he did it…I could not understand anything…I was so confused…"

Naruto's confusion slowly grew into anger. "So wait, that…that same guy who came with you and is about to fight Sasuke…he's the bastard who killed your clan! Why the hell didn't you do anything about it!"

"Don't call him a bastard, you fuckin shit!" Misao impulsively shot back.

Naruto looked surprised, "Huh?"

Misao closed her eyes and spoke again in a calmer voice, "He should have died that night, but after that night, I could not kill him, especially because…."

FLASH!

_"A-Aoshi…sama?" a terrified Misao stuttered from the burning ruins of the Aoiya._

_SCCHHWWAAANNNGG!_

_A sharp kodachi blade was pressed against her throat. Misao gasped._

_"A-Aoshi…."_

_She sat rooted to the spot as she gazed into the unflinchingly cold eyes of the one she admired._

_"A-Aoshi-sama…," she began. "Why…?"_

_"You are weak," the dual-wielded killer jeered._

_"H…Huh?"_

_"If you were stronger, you could have prevented this."_

_"I…I don't…"_

_"By allowing your weakness to control you, you allowed the destruction of the Oniwabanshuu, which you could have stopped if you were stronger. By allowing your blind emotions to control you, you thought I could do no wrong and allowed me to destroy the Oniwabanshuu. And then, there was that impulsiveness you showed during that failed mission when Omasu was killed. Once again, you were weak and therefore could not protect even your best friend. And let us not forget, if you had been stronger back then, you would have saved everyone a lot of trouble from my wrath during Shishio's coup d'etat. Instead, Okina nearly died, and not only Aoiya, but the entire city of Kyoto would have fallen. Your powerlessness almost cost everything, but tonight, everyone here (he gestured to the lifeless bodies of the Oniwabanshuu) has paid the price for your weakness. You don't deserve to live with your uselessness."_

_Misao, though still terrified, started to get angry, "Are you saying…that the deaths of everyone here was my fault! Aoshi-sama…no, Shinomori Aoshi, your swords in your hands were the ones that took the lives of the Oniwabanshuu! If anything, you should be the one to die!" _

_"Do you really have the heart to kill me?" asked the former leader of the Oniwabanshuu._

_"Well…I..."_

_"Can you honestly stand to see any more deaths of the people whom you care about?"_

_"I…"_

_Aoshi removed the blade from Misao's throat, then knelt down and stroked her face. She did not hesitate, but remained on the ground, still frozen with fear._

_"You are indeed weak, but you are still young. A young heart such as yours has much potential to become much stronger…much more powerful."_

_Aoshi's voice suddenly became more gentle, almost seductive. His voice became so hypnotic with every word that Misao forgot her fears and instead began listening with rapt attention._

_"You are special."_

_"Spe…special?" Misao stammered breathlessly._

_"You were the weakest in the Oniwabanshuu, but you are the most special, and that is why I have not killed you. Your desire for strength is something that makes me acknowledge you as someone worthy to be alive. If you had strength…you could never make those mistakes you have before. If you had strength…you could finally protect those whom you care about…."_

_It was still Aoshi's voice that was speaking, but the hypnotic tone, the overwhelming, alluring aura he had over Misao seemed…unnatural…and yet, Misao felt so drawn to it… _

"_If you want strength…."_

_"If I want strength…," Misao mumbled, dazed._

_"You must come with me…."_

_"I…must go… with you…," Misao mumbled again, still dazed._

_Aoshi smiled. It was not a nice smile._

_"You will come with me, and you will become strong. We will eventually find the One whose power reigns supreme, and that supreme power will make us stronger. In order to find it, you must never forget: You must desire power, you must crave for power, and you must do whatever it takes to get that power…."_

_"I will do whatever it takes…"_

FLASH!

"From that point on, I did exactly whatever it took, as long as I got power. I have done things that were wrong and things that were just plain despicable. And I did all this…just to gain power!" Misao yelled derisively. "Gradually, I remembered why I was doing this, but by the time I found out, I was in it too deep! There was no more turning back for me…I am completely corrupted…I can no longer return to the way I was before. Now, instead of gaining power to accomplish my goal, I only gain power in despair, knowing that there is no other way in life for me…it's an eternal curse."

Naruto just stared at her.

Misao sighed, "Kozou…at least show some sign that you understand! I didn't say this for my health, you know!"

Naruto just kept staring at her. Then, he drew in a deep breath.

"Jo-chan," he said after he exhaled. "I really want to give you a sign that I understand…except I can't."

Now it was Misao's turn to be puzzled, "Huh?"

"I mean, I can understand how you ended up like this, but why do you think you keep doing it only in despair?"

"Because that's the only retribution for me!" Misao exclaimed. "I have sinned, so therefore I have to pay for it by continuing on my quest forever!"

Naruto, despite the situation, waved his finger playfully.

"Nope, that's not why you're still doing this!" he frivolously replied.

"You bastard…what the hell do you know about me!" Misao cried angrily.

"After that sad story you gave me, _everything_," Naruto said.

Misao gritted her teeth, "Rrrrrrr," she growled. _This guy!_

"For one thing, if you really were doing it out of despair, you would not have cared whether that shady bastard (Misao snarled at this) was with you or not," Naruto said.

"What the hell does Aoshi-sama have anything to do with my continuing my quest!" Misao wanted to know.

"Like I said before, _everything_," Naruto said again.

"Rrrrr…stop saying that!" Misao got frustrated.

"You keep going with him…because he's your precious person…right?" Naruto asked.

Those words made Misao freeze for a second.

"Precious person? What nonsense are you talking now?" she asked.

"A long time ago, a friend once told me that at one point in his life, he felt…no, wait, he had _no choice_ but to think that…he was unwanted by anyone," Naruto explained. "Then one day, somebody came along and acknowledged that person from the bottom of his heart, and so therefore that friend considered that somebody…his precious person."

"He said to me before, 'If somebody came and acknowledged you from the bottom of your heart, wouldn't you consider that person a precious person?' And so because Aoshi had acknowledged you, you wanted to do anything for him, including following him and gaining power from him. It wasn't because you felt guilty for failing to protect your friends or because you were weak, but it was because you considered Aoshi as a precious person. Sure, Aoshi told you that you were weak, but from the moment he acknowledged you, you would have followed him anywhere, no matter what else he said to you. The only reason you thought you were in despair was that you thought so much of your friends…I'm sure they meant a lot to you…but it wasn't your fault they died…blaming yourself will only lead to more despair. So don't despair anymore…live on for the one who has acknowledged you…."

"But…but I…I still don't think I can be forgiven…," Misao muttered uncertainly.

Naruto smiled, "Jo-chan, if you can live through the pain and live for what you care for, then you are already forgiven."

Misao just stared at Naruto.

"Now I know for sure…you seriously must be Himura!" Misao exclaimed in awe. "You have the same sweet-talking ability as he does!"

Naruto laughed, "Hahaha, well, the way you talk about him, he must sound like a good guy! I would want to meet him someday!"

Misao just looked at him, and then all of a sudden she burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha! Wow, it's been such a long time since I've laughed like this…," she said as tears flowed down her cheeks again.

"Hey! Jo-chan! Why are you crying again?" Naruto shouted.

"Idiot, you can cry when you're happy, you dumbass!" Misao yelled.

"And for future reference…"

"Huh?" Naruto wondered.

"DON'T CALL ME JO-CHAN, KOZOU!" Misao screamed at Naruto.

Naruto looked slightly taken aback before he also screamed, "DON'T CALL ME KOZOU, JO-CHAN!"

They both looked at each other.

Then grinned.

Then laughed.

"Well…I think you gave me a pretty good beating back there," Misao said after she stopped laughing. "So yeah, I guess I'll let you win."

Naruto looked shocked, "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, I think I'm starting to feel the aftereffects of that last attack you did to me. I'm starting to feel a little tired…and a little woozy…and I think I need to…" Misao did not finish her sentence as she slowly fainted onto the ground.

"Jo-chan? Jo-chan! Are you all right!" Naruto ran to where Misao was lying.

Sakura leaped up from her resting place; she wasn't going to give Naruto the victory just because he won, but more because Misao was injured and needed medical attention fast.

"Winner… Uzumaki Naruto!"


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 12 - **One? Why not Two? Truth and Recovery**

"Get a medic-nin over here, NOW!" Sakura demanded as several medic-nins flooded into the arena and descended upon Misao.

"Sa-Sakura-chan, is she going to be all right?" Naruto asked while jumping up and down on his feet with anxiety.

Sakura was too busy trying to heal Misao's smaller wounds to snap at Naruto, so she settled with, "If you're that concerned, go wait in the emergency room. We'll be there soon."

"Alright! I'm counting on you, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto as he sped off through the exit.

Sakura then turned back around to see Misao's eyes fluttering open.

"What…happened?" asked a fatigued-ridden Misao.

Sakura gently put two fingers on Misao's lips and silenced her. "Shush, don't talk. You were badly injured when you took the full attack of Naruto's Rasengan. I've managed to take care of most of your minor wounds, but the internal damage has to be taken care of in the emergency room," she whispered.

"Where's…Naruto?" Misao asked, forgetting to stay silent.

"He's waiting for you in the emergency room. Now stop talking, we're gonna put you onto a stretcher now," Sakura said.

After Sakura finished taking care of the wounds, the medic-nins gently lifted Misao and set her onto a stretcher. With Sakura behind them, they hastily exited the arena.

_But it's weird, _thought Sakura while they rushed through the hallways. _In more ways than one, her story is so similar to the Uchiha Massacre…except for the ending…_

She gazed at the still body of Misao as she raced for the room.

_To do anything for the sake of your precious person…to live for that person, fight for that person, die for that person, even consign to darkness for that person…_

She stared down at her hand.

_Will I be able to do such a thing?_

Meanwhile back at the stadium…

Boos and shouts of disappointment rang from the crowd.

"Man, what the hell was that! It was so damn good in the beginning and then at the end it totally died down! This shit is fucked up!" one man in the crowd complained.

"Hey, you know, I heard from somewhere that this whole thing isn't even a real exam! It's just some stupid plot to get some people or something!" said another, and as soon as he said that, he and the people surrounding him immediately fell asleep.

"Relax, gentlemen, there's no need to shout," said Kodachi as he, Kozaki, and Konami proceeded to wipe clean the memories of the men of whom they had cast the sleeping genjutsu upon. "Especially if you're saying things you shouldn't be saying…."

Eventually the three managed to literally quiet down the whole crowd (they awoke a few minutes later, having no memory of any leaked secrets, except for those who had to know). During that time…

_I see, _thought Sasuke as he recalled the memory of the previous match. _So these two are trying to find…someone…or something…that has 'supreme power'. _

He suddenly remembered Misao in her full dark form.

_I don't understand…why does that power seem so interesting…?_

_But more importantly,_ Sasuke realized, _why does _she_ seem so… interesting…?_

Kakashi looked at his watch. _So, _he thought. _It's almost time for the big match…._

He turned around and looked at Aoshi.

_I wonder what kind of person you are…_

Aoshi stared at the arena exit where Misao was carried off.

_Little girl…,_ Aoshi thought to himself. _You may think you have severed the link between us, but there is absolutely no escaping it…you will indeed return again…_

Meanwhile, a new person appeared on the fighting grounds.

_This is so…_

"Ladies and gentlemen, owing to the fact that the referee is currently occupied with an emergency, I, Nara Shikamaru, will fill in for Haruno Sakura as the referee until she is able to return. During the next few minutes we will have a short break to prepare for the next match. Thank you very much."

…_troublesome_.

Meanwhile back in the emergency room…

"Augh!"

"It's okay, it will only last a few seconds!" Sakura reassured a tortured-looking Misao gently as she used a medical jutsu that dealt with restoring the internal body tissues.

"Owowowowow…oh…," cried Misao in relief as the jutsu finished its work.

"Jo-chan! How are you feeling? Are you all right?" Naruto wanted to know.

Misao turned and gave Naruto a look of pure hatred. "You bastard, I told you to stop calling me that!"

Naruto immediately got angry, "I'm just trying to look for you and you call me a bastard! You wanna go at it again, _Jo-chan_!"

"Bring it on, shorty!" Misao raised a fist, but then quickly lowered it as another spasm of pain shot through her. "Ow!"

Naruto immediately became concerned. "Oh no, I'm sorry, Jo-chan!" he exclaimed.

Misao didn't speak, but instead growled at Naruto while shooting off yet another death glare.

Sakura became disgusted. "Naruto, why don't you stop bothering her and go and watch the next match? Don't you realize you're making it worse for her? And besides, you still need to figure out –

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, Sakura-chan! We're not supposed to say anything!" Naruto reminded while putting his index finger to his mouth and shooting a furtive look at Misao.

Misao missed the look, but she became interested after Naruto's reaction, "Figure out? What do you guys need to figure out?"

"Well…uh…," Sakura stammered sheepishly.

"This Chuunin Exam was so that we could spy on you guys and see who you guys really are!" Naruto proudly exclaimed.

"NARUTO! NOW WHO'S THE ONE WHO SAID EVERYTHING, YOU IDIOT!" bellowed Sakura as she _pummeled_ Naruto into the opposite wall with her inherited strength.

"Well, she already had a good guess!" Naruto yelled back while rubbing the gargantuan bump on his face that he received from the punch.

Misao didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Um…Misao-san? I hope we didn't offend you, but it's just that ninjas from a different world coming into ours doesn't happen every day, you know? Please understand, we've already been through one crisis in the past before and we wanted to be extra careful…or at least _some_ of us," Sakura tried to explain while shooting Naruto her own death glare.

"Um…hehe." Now it was Naruto's turn to grin sheepishly.

"It's alright…," Misao said wearily. "If it were up to me in that situation, I would have done the same thing. I just want to ask you guys one thing: Other than the fact that we are other-worlders, what was it about us that made you guys suspect us?"

"During the preliminary matches, the opponents that you and Aoshi-san fought against were actually spies," Sakura explained. "They pretended to die so that they could sense what kind of powers you guys had. I guess it was then that they discovered your chakras had some mysterious energy to them, but up until your match with Naruto, we didn't really know what it was."

"Yeah, I really felt that for sure," Naruto muttered as he rubbed his chest.

"Naruto, be courteous for once!" Sakura demanded.

"No, no, Sakura, it's alright. I am really sorry that I had to put you through all that. It was a stupid thing to do, and I'll never allow anything of that sort to control me ever again." Misao resolved with an old glint in her eye.

Naruto smiled, "Hehe…I could see that glint in your eye…you weren't always such a moody person, huh?"

Misao looked affronted. "MOODY! I'LL SHOW YOU MOODY, YOU LITTLE – ungh!"

Sakura looked alarmed, "Misao-san, you really should just rest for now!"

Misao cast Sakura an odd look, "You say your name is Sakura?"

Sakura was thrown off by this question but decided to comply. "Yes," she said.

"Do you like it when people call you 'Sakura-san'?"

"Um, well, actually I'm not too bothered by it, but it gets more awkward later on," Sakura replied honestly, though she could tell what Misao was aiming at.

"Me too; I don't care when people start calling me 'Misao-san', but later on, it starts to get very annoying. So how about we just don't call each other that anymore? Deal?"

Sakura smiled; it looked as if she had made yet another friend. "Deal," she replied.

The two shook hands.

"Hahaha, I'll have nothing to worry about since I only call you 'Jo-chan'!" Naruto happily proclaimed, failing to grasp the atmosphere.

"Naruto, I'm warning you…," Sakura looked like she was about to unleash the "Sakura within" when Misao intervened.

"Actually, Kozou, I need to tell you something really quickly."

Naruto looked puzzled. "Huh?"

Misao took a deep breath. "It's about…the two of us…Aoshi-sama and I, I mean."

"What is it, Misao?" Sakura also wanted to know.

"Your village has not been the only one working under false pretenses…Aoshi-sama and I are also working under false pretenses. Obviously we did not enter this exam just to take the exam, as you all have already figured out." Misao began.

"Then what was your true aim?" Sakura asked.

"Kozou here already knows what it is," Misao said while indicating Naruto, who merely nodded in response.

"Wait…Naruto, you already know what they're after?" Sakura asked Naruto.

Naruto nodded again. "Yeah," he said, uncharacteristically stern.

"What is it?"

Naruto turned to look at Sakura directly in the eyes. "They want…me."

Sakura gave a small cry of surprise and jumped a little in her seat. "So you two are after…Naruto? Are you two linked with Akatsuki!" she cried as she leaped up, about to get into a fighting stance.

"Akatsuki? Who are the Akatsuki?" Misao wondered.

"Hey, you told me that Akatsuki can't touch your guys' power or something!" Naruto accused.

"I only said that as a bluff, baka, I really have no idea who they are or how strong they are," said Misao.

Naruto looked stunned. "But why would you say such a thing!"

"I'm a ninja, what do you think?"

"Uh…"

"Of course you also told me that this group was also after you, right? What are they after you for?" said Misao.

"Well, it wasn't really me they were after…they were actually after the demon inside me…the Kyuubi," Naruto explained.

"Demon? Oh…that explains all that power you got during the match," Misao finally realized. "I always thought the Kyuubi was a legend…"

"So why are you two after Naruto?" Sakura asked, trying to get back to the main topic.

"Well, unlike that group who's after the Kyuubi, we were actually after Naruto himself."

"But why?"

Misao hesitated. "I am not entirely sure of the details because Aoshi-sama only said that Naruto was very important in finding the 'One.'"

"The 'One?'" Naruto echoed.

"We're not exactly sure what it is, whether it is a person, a thing, or an entity. All we know is that the One has supreme power within it, and it was that power which drove the two of us to embark on our quest."

"How do you guys even know if this 'One' even exists?" Sakura asked doubtingly.

"I don't know why Aoshi-sama believed it. I only believed it…because I believed in him," Misao said with a hint of sorrow in her voice.

"I see…," Sakura said understandingly. "So this 'One', if it exists, could be anything in this world?"

"As long as it holds the 'supreme power'," Misao agreed.

"But why am I so important for it?" Naruto wanted to know.

Misao sighed, "Honestly, I wish I knew."

The three sat there in silence for a few seconds.

Misao broke it first. "Kozou, the reason why I'm telling you all this is because…I need your help."

Naruto looked startled for a bit. "My help?"

"Yes; the main point of my discussion was not to tell you the truth behind our mission, but to give you background information on what I'm asking you to do."

"So what is it already?" Naruto asked impatiently.

Misao took another deep breath. "I need you…to save Aoshi-sama."

Naruto couldn't quite believe his ears. "What? Why?"

"Aoshi-sama, no matter what he becomes, is still the man that I care for…the man that I love," Misao said. "His soul may have already been destroyed, but I won't stop until he comes back to me. If you have to destroy him, then do as you wish. I fear that even your friend Uchiha Sasuke might not beat him."

Naruto gulped.

"Either way, I wish for his eternal suffering to finally end. Please, do whatever you can, but as long as he returns to the way he was before. Please, Kozou, you've got to!"

_Misao…,_ thought Sakura.

Naruto did not say anything for a very long time.

"Jo-chan, you did say that I could do anything to him, right?" he said after a while.

Misao was hesitant, but she nodded, tears starting to form around her eyes.

Naruto remained silent for a little while more, making the atmosphere tense. Finally he stood up, and –

- flashed what Rock Lee would call the "Nice Guy Pose."

"Na-Naruto…," Sakura uttered.

"Jo-chan, I don't care what I will do to him, but no matter what, I will not let him die!"

Misao sat staring, the tears flowing faster. "Naruto…?"

"It's Uzumaki Naruto! And as Uzumaki Naruto, I will make this the promise of a lifetime! I don't care how far he will go, because I'm gonna go right in and pull him back!"

Naruto looked directly into Misao's tear-filled eyes. "No matter what, I will make sure he returns to where he's supposed to be – with you. Because that's my way of the ninja!"

With that he turned and ran back into the arena stands, never noticing Misao break out into full crying mode or Sakura shed a few tears.

Misao stopped bawling for a bit and then turned to Sakura. "Naruto…he's amazing…he is so much like Himura…."

"Himura, I've heard you say that name before, who is he or she?" Sakura asked after she stopped crying for a bit.

"Oh, Himura is one of those people who have a long history behind them. Since we have so much time, I'll tell you all about him." Misao offered.

"Alright that sounds good," Sakura grinned as she thought…

_Naruto…it's like that same promise you made to me before…_

_Naruto…you are such a good person…I think I…_

Elsewhere, back at the stadium…

"Pant, pant…I finally made it back here! Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Where's Sasuke?"

Kakashi looked up from his book; he was standing in the place that Sasuke was standing before. "Oy, Naruto. Sasuke just went down right now, along with that other guy."

Naruto gasped. "Already? But I have to warn him about Aoshi! He might not –

Kakashi sighed and patted Naruto on the head. "Naruto, it'll be okay, just like how it was when Sasuke fought Gaara. It'll be okay."

Naruto wanted to protest. "But…."

"All Sasuke needs right now is one thing," Kakashi said.

"What is it?"

"Our faith in him," Kakashi replied.

"And now, will the two fighters step up!" Shikamaru declared.

"Next match: UCHIHA SASUKE VS. SHINOMORI AOSHI!"


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 13 - **Unstoppable Obstacle! Unleash the seal!**

"UCHIHA SASUKE VS. SHINOMORI AOSHI!"

At the sound of Sasuke's name, the crowd totally went wild, though some of them were a tad disappointed considering how Sasuke left the village before.

A lot of people were cheering for Aoshi too, though it was unexplainable as to why. Perhaps his cool demeanor and his sleek trenchcoat made most of the girls have eyes for him.

_Alright, let's see here…, _thought Shikamaru.

_Troublesome guy number one…killed a guy in cold blood, doesn't show the slightest flicker of emotion, still mysterious…, _he thought while looking at Aoshi.

_Troublesome guy number two…deflected to the enemy, number one magnet for trouble…, _he also thought while looking at Sasuke.

_Two equally troublesome guys…man, this is gonna be so troublesome…, _thought Shikamaru with a sigh.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Aoshi were still staring down at each other.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. _This guy…_

FLASH!

_"During the next few minutes we will have a short break to prepare for the next match. Thank you very much."_

_Shikamaru walked off to the side while on the balcony, Aoshi walked over to Sasuke at the same time._

_Sasuke noticed him. "What do you want?" he asked stoically._

_Aoshi didn't waste his breath. "I know why you're here."_

_"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, while his body tensed._

_Aoshi turned to look at the arena. "You are not in this exam to become chuunin or to promote the level of this country. You are in this exam to fulfill a specific mission, one that also concerns that stupid kid who fought just a few minutes ago."_

_Sasuke's voice was steady, although it was plainly obvious he was unnerved. "And why…would you think such a thing?"_

_Aoshi's face never changed. "I told you before; I don't need to think, I KNOW, and what I also know is that this mission you're on also concerns both me and the girl. By pretending to go through this exam, you were merely disguising the fact that you wanted to discover the truths of our presence. And what better way to figure out the truth than by fighting us directly in the finals so that everyone would know who we were?"_

_Sasuke smirked even though he was completely confused. "Heh, you seem to know a lot about what's going on here, don't you?" he tried to taunt._

_"I am not limited to just that knowledge, Uchiha Sasuke," Aoshi retorted in a chilling voice. "I know about the true nature of your heart that you are so willing to deny…you believe that you have overcome your darkness, that you have regained some sense of who you are. I will tell you right here and now, however, that your darkness still lingers; it still courses through your advanced blood like poison, fueling your desire to fill up the empty hatred lying within you. You will fail, as you've continuously failed before, and you will only continue to kindle the doomed path of which you walk. As a result, you will never be forgiven, never be able to escape that which you personally call hell, and you will fail to defeat any obstacle in your doomed path. And one of those obstacles that you will not pass…is me…."_

_"Oi, Sasuke! Your match is about to start!" came the voice of Kakash behind Sasukei; he too was also on the balcony. Whether he had just came then or earlier, he had come at the right time, for Sasuke's eyes were blazing red as his trembling left hand was also blazing a dazzling blue light. Sasuke, looking a bit startled, immediately reverted his eyes and hand back to normal. "Kakashi, when did you get here?" he asked, turning around._

_"Oh, I was just…patrolling around," said Kakashi, not exactly answering Sasuke's question. "Anyway, your opponent is waiting for you," he gestured._

_Sasuke turned around to see Aoshi gone._

_"Sasuke," Kakashi said in a more serious tone as Sasuke turned around again. "All I can say to you now is…follow your choice."_

_"Follow my choice?"_

_"I'm saying nothing more than that," said Kakashi sternly as he disappeared in a puff of smoke._

_Sasuke just stared for a few seconds at the empty spot where Kakashi was previously standing, then he snapped out of his funk and walked down the stairs. _

_He could not stop the trembling in his left hand or throughout the rest of his body, for he knew, although he could not explain how, that Aoshi had completely seen right through him . It was not because Aoshi spoke the truth that made Sasuke tremble; it was because of Aoshi's voice as he spoke._

_It sounded so…hypnotic._

FLASH!

All of a sudden…

WHAM!

Sasuke never saw the punch coming, nor did he see it cram straight into his stomach. It was only after he was lying on the ground and witnessing his own blood fly out of his mouth as he coughed up blood did he realize that he was attacked.

"Recalling a past event will only distract you," said Aoshi's emotionless voice, as the speaker raised his foot above Sasuke's abdomen.

Just as he landed his foot, however –

"One punch is all I need to kill you," said Sasuke…BEHIND Aoshi.

Aoshi turned around and managed to successfully block Sasuke's kick from hitting his chin, but that didn't prevent the force of the attack to propel him up into the air.

As he floated in the air, Sasuke reappeared behind him once more. "You're not blocking this one…," he said with a smirk as he froze Aoshi's body in place with the Kage Buyou..

With that, he spun Aoshi around and –

1ST HIT!

- Delivered a left kick to his side, followed by –

2ND HIT!

- Spinning around and backfisting Aoshi square in the head and then –

3RD HIT!

- Jabbed Aoshi in the chest with his right fist and finally –

SHISHI RENDAN!

- Spun around and slammed Aoshi smack into the ground with his left kick finisher.

"Wow, right off the bat he was able to do the Shishi Rendan!" Naruto exclaimed from the balcony.

Kakashi, however, was thinking otherwise. _Sasuke…overexertion of chakra in the beginning will seriously damage your body later…_

Sasuke, panting from using the move, heard a stirring behind him.

_Especially if…_

He turned around…to actually SEE the punch this time, but unfortunately –

WHAM!

- Still could not dodge it.

As Sasuke fell back onto the ground from the blow he took to the chest, he caught a glimpse of Aoshi's body lying on the ground.

Then he turned back around to see _another_ Aoshi standing with his fist extended. With a sickening feeling, he heard a "puff" sound behind him that sounded a little too familiar…

"How…how did you…how can you use…Kage Bunshin?" Sasuke sputtered as he could not comprehend exactly what just happened.

"Although it took me years to fully master all two hundred years' worth of Oniwabanshuu fighting techniques, it only took me a few minutes to merely memorize all of them. Do not think that I cannot memorize a simple technique such as the Kage Bunshin, Uchiha Sasuke. Even without the Sharingan, I can memorize what you call "jutsus" faster than your pathetic clan."

Sasuke was dumbfounded when he found out that Aoshi knew much of the Sharingan, but immediately got angry when he heard the words, "pathetic clan."

"You show anger from within…I thought you said you had let go of your anger, but it looks like you cannot deny what you cannot forget," Aoshi almost tauntingly. "Was it because I said I was better than your clan, or was it because you know…that you no longer have one?"

Sasuke looked angry, although he could not help but think, _Is he…is he reading my mind! How does he know all this about me!_

"You seem confused and angry, what are you confused about?" Aoshi asked.

_I need to know how he's doing this…, _thought Sasuke feverishly as his mind raced for a clue. _Even if he already knows about it, I'll find out the truth with it!_

With a smirk, Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them to reveal…

SHARINGAN!

The wheel with the three dots appeared in each of Sasuke's now-red eyes.

"So," he replied savagely to Aoshi. "You think you can contest this so-called pathetic sharingan?"

"In terms of insight, the Byakugan is stronger than the Sharingan, and even then, it still won't discover the truth behind _my _insight. That _is_ what you're trying to find out, right?" Aoshi countered.

_Damnit, the situation hasn't changed…he's seen through me again…, _Sasuke thought exasperatedly. _No matter what, I won't let him do it again…I've got to make the first move!_

_Go for…body activation!_

He rapidly formed hand seals and then –

KATON: HOUSENKA!

The small, fast fireballs zoomed in on Aoshi, who nimbly dodged them.

_Now's my chance!_

Out of nowhere, Sasuke appeared and kicked Aoshi clean across the face.

_Again!_

Reappearing on the other side of Aoshi, Sasuke kicked Aoshi on the face again.

_One more time!_

He disappeared and reappeared in front of Aoshi, where he delivered a roundhouse punch straight into –

- Aoshi's waiting palm.

_Hn, _Sasuke smirked, for he had seen the awaiting palm a mile away with his sharingan. Just before his fist went into the palm –

He vanished again, and reappeared behind Aoshi, where, with his back towards Aoshi's back, he launched a back fist towards the back of Aoshi's head.

At the last minute, he saw with his sharingan Aoshi turning around and trying to block Sasuke's strike. _Heh, I also saw that a mile away, _thought Sasuke as he changed his stance in a split second. _I used the back fist as a diversion so that he would block that, thinking that was my attack, but he would fail to see my real attack at the last second!_

Just as Sasuke was about to strike Aoshi –

WHAM!

Suddenly Sasuke was flying backwards again.

_What the! _thought a confused Sasuke. _I saw his move and I dodged it and I struck him – but he still got me! How the hell?_

"You know me for being able to read you, but I didn't even have to read you in order to dodge and block your real attack," came the monotonous voice of Aoshi. "I am aware that the full sharingan can see movement in slow motion and allow the body to dodge it.

"Unfortunately, when you're dealing with me, even the full sharingan is useless. No matter how well you see my attack and how well you dodge it, I will never miss. My speed surpasses even the speed of the sharingan. Not even the fastest swordsman in the world can dodge my attacks." Aoshi explained.

Sasuke was still reeling from the attack and there was a cut where his lip was also bleeding. _Damnit…, _he thought furiously, _he made one part of my sharingan useless…._

"I've told you before, there is one obstacle that you will never surpass…and that is me," Aoshi declared again.

_This bastard…,_ Sasuke thought as his anger reached its peak. _Even with all that I do, he still finds his way around it! He's made my sharingan fail, and he's even made my body activation fail, so I can't even use the Chidori yet! I can try copying him…but he hasn't even done anything new! I can't think of any more options…_

FLASH!

_A familiar-looking man stood in the abyss_

_"Sasuke…," said the man. "You could have saved your clan, your family…."_

_He slowly peeled off his left eye, revealing another hideous-looking eye underneath it. "You could have made a difference…if you had power…."_

_"If you only had power…"_

_"Nothing can stop you…."_

FLASH!

The next thing Sasuke knew, his arm was extended out and his hand was formed into a fist. His body was leaning forward in the direction of his arm, and Sasuke saw the figure (yes, the real figure) of Aoshi lying crumpled on the ground.

_What the…what just happened? _Sasuke thought in wonder until he suddenly saw…

A swirling aura of purple chakra surrounding his body.

_What…is this chakra…?_ Sasuke thought as he instinctively looked down at his hand.

He gave a large gasp.

On his left hand…continuing up to his face…were black bruises shaped like flames…

_The curse seal…, _Sasuke realized. _The power…this is the power!_

In front of him, Aoshi was slowly getting back up.

_What…is this power…? This is unforeseen! _Aoshi thought, and for the first time, he looked a just a LITTLE bit unnerved.

Sasuke stared at his hand in awe for a little longer, than all of a sudden, he burst out laughing.

"Hehehehe…HAHAHAHAHA!" Sasuke laughed madly. "I…I feel…I feel…I feel ALIVE!"

Aoshi just stared. "This can't be…," he muttered. _His power has increased tenfold…_

"What's that you said before? That I will never surpass you? Heh…," Sasuke sneered. "You've read everything of me, but you will never read anything like this!" he shouted as more flame bruises covered his face and turned black. "Now I will show you what real power is!"

Hand seals: Snake…Sheep…Monkey…Boar…Horse…Tiger…

KATON: GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story

Chapter 14 - **Fate of the Corrupted! Exceed MAX!**

KATON: GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!

The already-large fireball grew even larger as it spewed out of Sasuke's mouth towards Aoshi.

Aoshi stared at the incoming ball of blaze. _Hn…you have got to be joking…_

"Such jutsus are below me," said Aoshi as he reappeared behind Sasuke.

Just as he was about to strike…

"Good for you, then," said Sasuke's voice…BEHIND Aoshi.

WHAM!

Faking him out with a diversion, Sasuke reappeared in the front and instantly delivered a hard kick straight to Aoshi's face, sending him flying over to the other side.

"What's the matter, where did all those fancy movements go to?" Sasuke asked tauntingly. "Maybe this power must be too much for you…you didn't foresee that, did you! HAHAHA!" he laughed evilly as his curse seal continued to envelop his upper torso.

_Sasuke…_, thought Naruto while watching from the stands and clenching his fist. _You…how could you…you're using that thing again! Bastard..!_

Kakashi only watched silently. _Sasuke…,_ he thought.

"You were interesting, but apparently you're just not much fun," Sasuke said almost ruefully. "I had hoped a little bit more from you…but you're nothing but a slacker."

Aoshi was lying facedown on the ground. As Sasuke watched him, he slowly got up – and covering his face, was a blade.

_No way…he blocked my attack at the last second with his sword?_ Sasuke looked on in slight wonder.

_What a guy…not only did he copy the Kage Bunshin from before, he also forced me to draw…, _Aoshi marveled as he removed the kodachi from his face. _Curious thing though…right when he activated that curse seal of his, I couldn't read him anymore…troublesome thing, that is…_

"Well, I see now that you've drawn, you're ready to be more serious. I would not expect anything less of my so-called 'obstacle'," Sasuke could not resist sarcasm.

Aoshi dusted off his clothes and settled his icy glare on Sasuke again. "From this point…," he said, bringing his kodachi back to his side, "if fear cannot take you, I will."

Sasuke's full-powered sharingan seemed to be going bad, because the outline of Aoshi's form suddenly started to blur…

_What the…is this genjutsu? No, because then I'd be able to see through it – then what's he doing? _Sasuke asked himself, feeling a tinge of worry.

"Hey."

Sasuke whipped around – to see Aoshi right behind him.

Immediately, he threw a punch right at Aoshi, but he blurred and disappeared.

_Is he making bunshins? _Sasuke wondered. _No…I'd be able to see through those too…_

"What are you looking at?"

Aoshi was now on his side; with lightning speed, Sasuke simultaneously whipped out, and threw at the same time, a kunai straight at Aoshi – which missed as Aoshi blurred and disappeared again.

_This…this movement is very familiar…, _Sasuke realized.

FLASH!

_Images of Haku _

FLASH!

_Could it be an advanced bloodline? _Sasuke wondered more profusely. _No…it can't be that either; back then it was all mirrors, but this guy seems to be doing it…_

He saw Aoshi reappear in the left corner, followed by blurring and reappearing in the right corner in only two seconds.

…_all with physical movement._

Aoshi blurred out and reappeared in front of Sasuke so suddenly that Sasuke used his Rock Lee-type speed to dash to the arena's opposite side.

_Even by my standards, he's super fast! _Sasuke analyzed. _I have no choice…I have to increase the chakra power of my sharingan!_

Extending the spread of his black bruises further to his stomach (and therefore increasing his sharingan power), Sasuke could just barely make out the faint after-images Aoshi made as he continuously reappeared everywhere.

_What a weird movement…, _Sasuke observed. _It's so fast, yet the appearance of it looks so calm…like a continuous flow. What is this movement?_

"Ososugi de Ugoki. Flowing Water Movement."

The voice was shockingly close to Sasuke's ear, who felt, rather than saw, the intent to kill from Aoshi as the tip of his kodachi sped to a half-inch near the front of Sasuke's throat.

The kodachi might have gone through further – had Sasuke not dodge at the last second, landing with a couple of flips in the center of the arena.

_Flowing Water Movement? Well that certainly explains the flow, but…_

"There is no time for you to be distracted."

But that was the second thing Sasuke heard, because before he heard that, he first heard a slice of a blade's edge against the flesh of his backside, and immediately cried out in pain as his flesh opened up, exposing his blood to the world.

_Damnit…that hurt like a bitch…and what's more, I couldn't dodge that one! _Sasuke thought angrily as he held the wound, though it was very difficult as his arm could just barely twist around for his hand to touch the wound. That, and the fact that the wound was pretty deep, and the gash wasn't very short either. _Why couldn't I…?_

"As I told you before, it's Flowing Water Movement. If you've seen water, you'd know that water does not flow at one speed; it flows at many speeds, all at the same time. The sharingan was developed only to see the movements of different speeds at different times. It was not meant to see different speeds…all at the same time. You could not keep up with me before when you didn't activate the curse seal…but even with the curse seal activated…you still won't keep up with me," Aoshi gloated once more in his emotionless manner. _But it's just as I expected, _Aoshi secretly thought. _That curse seal is protecting him from my chakra killer intent…I must provoke that troublesome thing even further…_

Before Sasuke could retort, Aoshi's speed changed and he rushed straight at Sasuke. Without hesitation, Sasuke aimed the fastest left punch he ever aimed straight for Aoshi's neck. At the last minute, however, Sasuke turned his fist into a squeeze palm, intending to disconnect Aoshi's windpipe.

He never got that far.

With unparalleled speed, Aoshi jammed his kodachi straight through Sasuke's palm, followed by a powerful side kick that cracked three of Sasuke's ribs as well as his sternum, and sent Sasuke flying through the air.

_Damnit…!_ Sasuke thought angrily as he landed hard on the ground and winced from landing on his back wound. No, he was not just angry; he was BEYOND angry. _More…I need more…power!_

With his anger rising to extreme levels, the black bruises on Sasuke's body completely spread all over his entire body.

_The curse seal has enveloped his body…yet he's not dead…,_ Kakashi observed with a growing anxiety. _He should have completely lost it by now, unless…don't tell me!_

"Looks like your curse seal power is now at a hundred percent," Aoshi casually remarked. "Very well then…I too will raise the stakes."

He now pulled out…his second kodachi.

Sasuke grinned very evilly. "You have to take this from me first!" he cried, referring to the kodachi that he had just pulled out from his palm.

"I believe I just did."

"Huh?" Sasuke looked at his hand to see the kodachi gone!

"Wha...how the…"

"My weapons answer to nobody but me," Aoshi sneered flatly. "Plus, that was never actually the real weapon…"

To Sasuke's horror, Aoshi reached into his coat once more – and pulled out…another kodachi.

"That's…that's not…"

"Not possible? I was trained to think of new things continuously no matter what situation I was in, and one thing that I thought of was to take that Kage Bunshin I learned a step further – and use it on other objects. The one I've been using all this time was –

" – a Kage Bunshin," Sasuke realized. _This guy…I've been bragging all along that I was better than he was, but he's the toughest, smartest, most resourceful opponent I have ever fought in my life…a paragon of a true ninja…. He's been countering every single move I've made with a different one…and the only attacks I've made on him had no effect! _

He slowly took a step back.

_I only have one good resource with me now, and that's copying his attacks. So far, he hasn't shown a single one of his attacks, save for that one he showed against that guy in the prelims...except I didn't really see that one…_

"You look so down; I thought that making me draw both my swords out would make you happier, because now…," Aoshi slowly readied his kodachi. "I can finally use…my techniques…."

In the blink of an eye, Aoshi disappeared. Sasuke suddenly realized what Aoshi was going to do, and he immediately jumped high into the air to avoid the –

ONIWABANSHUU KODACHI NITOU-RYU: GOKOU JUUJI!

_I remember now…,_ thought Sasuke as he slowly landed. _If I hadn't remembered…I would have died right there…_

"It's not over yet!" Aoshi yelled as he immediately blurred into the Flowing Water Movement.

Sasuke was alarmed. _He's faster than before! No, wait, there's something different this time…_

He closely scanned the movements. _He seems to be moving in a specific pattern…, _Sasuke thought. He suddenly had a very bad feeling…!

KODACHI NITOU-RYU: KAITEN KENBU ROKUREN!

The attack came without any warning; Sasuke failed to see the strikes and ended up taking the full brunt of the attack.

He lay on the ground, with six gashes on his body; two of them crossed the one large one from before, another two crossed his chest, and the last two cut across both his arms.

_What a monster…,_ Sasuke thought exasperatedly while his wounds started to bleed a little too fast. _To think he kept something like that to himself all this time…._ Exactly how Sasuke managed to stand back up afterwards he did not know; all he knew was that he was back on his feet again, with blood dripping down his body.

Aoshi regained his composure after the attack, and then turned around and looked at Sasuke with a look that would have frozen Sasuke's blood flow.

"This is it," he stated. "That attack was my most powerful regular technique. Anyone who survives it will be fatally wounded. And you are no different…

"The time has come…," Aoshi said as he sheathed his swords. "There is no point in continuing…the match ends now!"

An odd dark glow surrounded Aoshi…a glow that looked all too familiar.

Naruto became instantly terrified. "No way, he's gonna do the same thing that Misao did!" he shouted.

Sasuke stood transfixed by the growing purple aura that occasionally flashed bolts of electricity. Suddenly, the aura completely engulfed Aoshi within a second, and from it, the bolts of electricity flashed even faster than before and got faster and faster by the second, until the aura looked like it was about to burst.

Which it did. Without further notice, the entire aura exploded in a ray of sheer power. From the explosion, a ring of purple fireballs surrounded the arena once again. Gradually, the aura settled back down, and the glow faded away, to reveal…

Aoshi's hair was no longer parted down as before, but instead it was sticking out into the air in a messy style. His face bore the same emotion as before, but his now-red eyes gave his expression a terrifying demeanor. There were various markings that looked a lot like scars on his face, accentuating the demonic glare he had on his face. He was still wearing the coat, but it was ripped to shreds, as well as most of his other clothing. His body muscles also underwent a change; they became more toned and a lot larger than before. His wrists and ankles also protruded spikes the same way that Misao's had.

Sasuke was hypnotized by this difference in form, although he was by no means frightened by it. For reasons known only to him, he found the power display…very fascinating…

Dark Aoshi narrowed his eyes, which made him even more menacing. _If this form won't tempt him, I'll just have to kill him. Either way, he's going to suffer…_

"What…what power…," Sasuke thought, very fascinated. "And you were holding this back all this time?"

"Uchiha Sasuke," Dark Aoshi began in a very sinister tone. "You are indeed a special one…your very existence is a threat to every single person in this world."

Those words made Sasuke freeze.

"What…what did you say?"

"You have been a burden to every person in your life since the day you were born," Dark Aoshi elaborated calmly.

"A…burden?" Sasuke could not believe what he was hearing.

"You have failed to achieve your goal and instead you continue to live without any means or purpose. You have failed to live up to the expectations of the people whom you care for. You have failed to _protect_ those whom you care for. In every single dangerous battle, you have never won nor have made a difference. Instead, all you did was get into everyone's way –

"SHUT UP!" Rage coursed through Sasuke's blood like no other.

Suddenly…

FLASH!

"_Hey, are you all right…scaredy-cat?" Naruto said while he stopped the snake._

FLASH!

_Haku tossed the needles at Naruto just as Sasuke took them all and got heavily injured._

FLASH!

"_At least I'm not a failure who's always dragging others down," Naruto said before they fought._

FLASH!

"_So you're after Naruto after all," Jiraiya said._

FLASH!

"_Right now, you don't interest me,"_ _Itachi said._

"_You are weak. Why are you weak? It's because you don't have enough…hatred."_

FLASH!

"_Sasuke-kun, thank you. You saved us from the Sand, right?" Sakura asked him._

"_Now, now, Sasuke-kun, you don't have to be so modest."_

FLASH!

"rrrrr-RRRRRHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sasuke screamed with so much hate-filled fury.

_Couldn't protect anyone…couldn't help anyone…couldn't save anyone…a burden…a burden…useless…meaningless…a nothing…a fake…what am I…what am I…?_

"WHAT THE FUCK AM I! AAAAAHHHH!" Sasuke cursed the world.

"You are…an anomaly…," Dark Aoshi replied.

Sasuke looked up, his red sharingan eyes seething with so much hatred and anger that it seemed to radiate off him. "A…what, now!"

"An anomaly. Right now, at this very moment, your heart has been corrupted. It has been tainted, and now you are neither here nor there, dead or alive. You are caught between the twilight, a state in which nothing can exist. You are unable to serve your purpose, and as a result, your existence is meaningless."

"WHAT BULLSHIT IS THAT!" Sasuke bellowed, frustrated.

"Your existence is meaningless…," Dark Aoshi repeated as he crossed his swords. "As I will show you right now!"

Dark Aoshi's kodachi blades suddenly glowed bright purple.

YAMI RYU: TEN NO MOKUSHI!

With the kodachi backhanded, Dark Aoshi blurred into visible after-images and rushed all over the area. "_You're not getting out of this one!_" he shouted.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

BOOM!

Dark Aoshi rushed at Sasuke twelve times, slashing with each kodachi, then finished off with a MASSIVE area explosion, shrouding the entire arena in smoke.

"In this form, my swords do not pierce flesh…_each time they slice you, they cut through what you call 'chakra',_" Dark Aoshi ominously replied. "I have cut you enough times to reduce your chakra to _zero_."

"Really now…if that's the case, then why do I still feel so…good, eh?" came Sasuke's voice from the smoke. It sounded a little too silky…

Dark Aoshi looked a bit troubled – for about two seconds, because now he saw from within the smoke a familiar purple swirling aura…

_No…it can't be…_

"Well, well…I haven't felt this power in such a long time…," Sasuke drawled as his form slowly came into view…

"Sa…Sasuke…I…I can't believe…you're doing this!" Naruto yelled out from the balcony.

The image of Sasuke was finally revealed. There were no more black bruises on his skin anymore, save for the pointy crossed-shaped one on the bridge of his nose. His skin color all over his body was a sickly grayish brown, and his nails had elongated into claws. The whites of his eyes were no longer white, but pitch black. His lips matched the color of his now-blue hair, which had grown out all the way down to his lower back.

Sasuke was still in curse seal mode – at level two.

_Damnit, I didn't expect him to have an upgrade to that wretched curse seal…,_ cursed Dark Aoshi silently.

Sasuke looked up at Dark Aoshi with a deadly glare on his face. "As long as I'm alive," he sneered devilishly as his body seemed to bristle with power, "NO ONE WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF MY EXISTENCE!"


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 15 - **Broken Spirit - Shattered Soul - The True Darkness**

"Naruto! How's Sasuke doing?"

Naruto turned to stone, for he had just heard the one voice that he had been absolutely dreading to hear. With a quickened pulse and a trembling in his hands, he stiffly looked around – to see Sakura and Misao coming onto the balcony, waving at him.

And smiling.

The worst part was that they were smiling.

_Damnit…, _Naruto thought as sweat poured down his head. _No matter what, I can't let Sakura-chan see Sasuke!_

"U-um…Sa-Sa-Sa-Sa-Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted while jumping in front of Sakura to block her view. "When did you get up here? Is Jo-chan all right? My, my, we're having a really good weather today, aren't we?" Naruto stuttered a little too quickly while gesturing at the gray sky.

"Hey, Kozou, why are you so stuttery?" Misao asked.

Sakura was not stupid; she immediately saw past the charade. "Naruto…I asked you…how is Sasuke doing?" she asked with growing trepidation.

"Um…well…I…uh…oh man…," Naruto finally dropped all pretense. "I…think it would be better if I just showed you…." And with that, he stepped out of the way.

What Sakura saw nearly made her faint, had Misao not caught her just before she fell.

"Naruto…," she started weakly. "What is that purple swirling aura on the field…?"

Naruto could not find any way to refuse her question. "That's…Sasuke's aura."

"Sasuke's…? Stop playing around, Naruto!" Sakura shouted vehemently in spite of the inevitability of the truth. "That can't be Sasuke underneath that aura! The person doesn't even look like Sasuke! Why are you telling me these lies, Naruto, please stop!" she was growing very hysterical.

Naruto closed his eyes shut and tried desperately to deny himself the responsibility of answering the question. "Sakura-chan…that is Sasuke in that aura…he's managed to increase the power of his curse seal and transformed into that…that thing," he found himself saying.

"Stop it, Naruto! Stop saying all that bullshit! That is not Sasuke!" Sakura cried out, her face soaked in tears.

Forgetting all hesitation, Naruto suddenly grabbed Sakura and pinned her against the railing. "SAKURA-CHAN, that IS Sasuke! I wish there was just some other way to say it, but there isn't, and you just have to deal with it! I should've…I should've told you sooner…but I didn't, I'm so sorry Sakura-chan…," he suddenly felt a wave of anguish like never before.

Sakura just stayed leaning on the railing, her shock from being pinned to it gradually melting away as she turned around and stared at the arena without saying a further word.

Misao felt sudden sympathy for Sakura. "Sakura, I'm so sorry, I know how you feel…," she said as she patted her on the back.

Naruto faced Misao. "Jo-chan, there's no point in hiding it from you either…Aoshi has turned into his dark form like you did."

Misao looked shocked, although not as shocked as Sakura was. "I'm not surprised that he would turn into his dark form…I'm more surprised that he IS in his dark form!"

"Why, is there something about him different from you?" Naruto asked.

Misao nodded. "Unlike me, who had not (and not regrettably) mastered the dark form, Aoshi-sama has fully mastered the important aspects of the dark form. If he uses the full power of his dark form, I…," she looks at Sakura who remained stonily silent. "I won't say…."

Naruto gritted his teeth as he turned to look at the fight once again. _Sasuke, _Naruto thought anxiously, _just far are you gonna go?_

Kakashi, who had eavesdropped on the whole conversation while pretending to watch the match, did not offer his beliefs, but instead disappeared unnoticeably from the balcony in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke grinned viciously as the purple aura around him swirled more rapidly. "I'm actually glad that you've lived long enough for this…because now I can finally kill you the way I've wanted…."

Dark Aoshi, after getting over the slight shock of Sasuke's new form, did not seem the least bit fazed. _I didn't realize he had this new form, _he thought, _but that's alright…everything is now perfectly in place…now the timing must be perfect…_

Sasuke suddenly reappeared and punched Dark Aoshi hard in the face, followed by a kick to both sides of his torso and rapid punches to the face, and a finishing spike punch straight on Dark Aoshi's forehead.

"Stupid show-off…I'll show you the true power of darkness," Sasuke snarled as he landed back on the ground.

Dark Aoshi stood back up, and there was murder in his frozen eyes.

KODACHI NITOU-RYU: ONMYOU HASSHI!

He flung a powered-up kodachi straight at Sasuke.

_He's gotta be kidding…not even a student would be that stupid…, _Sasuke thought as the kodachi flew towards him.

Just before the kodachi had reached him, Sasuke nimbly dodged it, completely unaware of the second kodachi right behind it…

…that changed direction in midair!

And pierced straight through Sasuke's head!

"Aaaaaahhhhh!" Sasuke screamed as the kodachi passed through his head.

"You are ultimately very lucky that my kodachi are powered up with chakra and deal damage only to your chakra; otherwise I would be foolish to be saying any of this to you right now," Dark Aoshi leered. "Unfortunately for you, though, I have aimed for, and succeeded in damaging, the Initial Gate of the Eight Gate chakra system. As a result, your chakra's speed as it travels to your muscles will be cut in half."

Sasuke suddenly felt an odd tingling in his muscles, and noticed that every muscle movement he made required a lot more strength than before.

_Even my fingers are slower now…, _Sasuke cursed silently.

"Also, the attack that I just did right now is actually an upgraded version of the real attack," Dark Aoshi explained. "I throw a kodachi with one right behind it so that if the person knocks away the first one, he won't get to knock away the second. However, that raises the possibility of the person dodging the first one. To eliminate such a possibility, I hid the second one in the first's blind spot, so that after the person dodges the first one, I'll direct the second one to attack the person regardless of where he is."

"These kodachi are my loyal servants…they answer to no one else's control," Dark Aoshi boasted, and as if on cue, the two kodachi near Sasuke suddenly floated up in the air, and flew back into Dark Aoshi's hands.

_Damnit…damnit…damnit…DAMNIT! _Sasuke wordlessly raged. _Once again, he still manages to counter with an offensive that not only caught me off guard, but also cut my muscle power in half! Now I won't be able to use taijutsu as effectively as before! DAMNIT…_

_But, _Sasuke thought excitedly although he remained cautious, _I still have one trick left up my sleeve…he's already seen it before, but even so…I've run out of everything I can do…he's dodged and countered most of the fire moves, he's found a way to escape my sharingan, and his techniques are useless for me to copy…. Plus, my body activation hasn't been done yet, and with my body speed now cut in half, I won't be able to run at my fastest... Also…,_ Sasuke gave a gasp as he felt a huge stab of pain shoot throughout his body, _the curse seal is starting to corrode my body, so I have no time left…_

_This…this one jutsu…, _Sasuke thought as he readied his hands to perform the hand seals. _This will be…the one to decide everything!_

Ram…

_This is it…_

Hare…

_Nothing more to do now…_

Monkey…

_I've come this far…_

Special seal:

_Whatever happens, I can't lose!_

A bright flashing bolt of blue light suddenly enveloped Sasuke's left hand.

CHIDORI!

As the Chidori grew in power, it turned black.

"YOU BASTARD…," Sasuke yelled as wings popped out of his back.

"TAKE THIS!"

Sasuke charged straight at Dark Aoshi, his beating wings giving him all the speed that his body couldn't give.

"RAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sasuke roared as his Chidori got ever so close to Dark Aoshi – until finally –

BOOM!

It made contact, resulting in a huge explosion of light.

"Shit…I can't see shit…," Naruto complained as he shielded his eyes from the light.

Sakura's eyes were still open; she was still frozen as before. "Sasuke…."

_Oh my god, please tell me they're alright…, _Misao thought while anxiously scanning the arena.

The light gradually deteriorated…to reveal an unwelcome sight.

"That was weak," Dark Aoshi sneered.

Sasuke was…well, he was just full-out shocked. "How…how the…how is that possible?"

Sasuke's Chidori had indeed made contact…with Dark Aoshi's blade!

Dark Aoshi shook his head condescendingly. "I told you before, my kodachi blades are powered by chakra, and the reason why they can cut through other chakra is that they automatically repel any other foreign chakra from cutting into _them_. Your Chidori, however strong it might be, can never cut through my blades."

"Unfortunately for you," Dark Aoshi said as he tightened his grip on his blocking kodachi. "This is only the first part of my technique."

Dark Aoshi raised his other free kodachi and –

KODACHI NITOU-RYU: ONMYOU KOUSA!

- slammed it straight into the first kodachi.

"AAAHHHH!" Sasuke suddenly felt extreme pain in his left arm; within seconds his left arm hung limp.

"My defensive technique allows me to block with such extreme force that I can break any weapon my kodachis block…including your 'weapon', the Chidori, Dark Aoshi taunted as he slowly sheathed his swords. "You will no longer be able to use your left arm."

Sasuke was still panting from the pain he felt in his arm, his anger slowly being replaced by despair. _Even my last shot…he blocked and powerfully countered my last shot…._

"Your curse seal must be taking its toll on your body right now as we speak," Dark Aoshi said. "With that, and everything else, you are now incapable of doing anything. The one who said he would show me the true power of darkness…is still…so…weak," he emphasized the last few words.

At once Sasuke's anger replaced his despair, and with an enraged cry, he desperately aimed a trembling punch straight at Dark Aoshi's face.

Dark Aoshi's eyes suddenly flared.

YAMI RYU: YAMI BAKUHATSU!

In a flash, he reappeared behind Sasuke, and his first two fingers began to illuminate…

"Uchiha Sasuke…I told you before…I am an obstacle that you will never surpass…," said Dark Aoshi as he raised his two fingers. "From this point on, you will never fight again!"

He stabbed his two fingers straight into Sasuke's neck.

For one second, there was silence.

Then after that second…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The pain! The overwhelming pain that Sasuke had never before experienced! It shot from his neck all throughout his body. It was a pain so powerful that his organs felt like they were going to burst.

"AAAHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAAHHHHH!" Sasuke screamed even louder.

All of a sudden, the wings on his back suddenly retreated back into his body. His hair shrunk back down to normal, and his skin flamed red again as the red hue separated into smaller flames and retreated back into his neck. The whites of his eyes returned, and his sharingan automatically disappeared as Sasuke fell to his knees in agony.

"Wha…wha…wha…," Sasuke was unable to speak properly.

"I have utterly banished your curse seal," Dark Aoshi replied. "The curse seal which gives you the unnatural powers of darkness."

"Wha…?" Sasuke's eyes began to blur.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I have been playing you like a fool for this whole match," Dark Aoshi declared. "Before this match even began, I had already known about the curse seal, and I already knew how to break it. I have had a million opportunities to destroy you throughout this whole match, but I knew that just merely defeating you wasn't enough. So I deliberately endured and countered everything you threw at me just to provoke you into gaining more power from the seal. Of course, I did not expect there to be a second level to the curse seal, but after seeing as how the second level appeared to destroy your body, it made my job of sabotaging your chakra system a lot easier."

"My…chakra…?" Sasuke mumbled.

Dark Aoshi continued explaining, "I told you before; my dark chakra has the ability to cut through other people's chakra. By forcing my chakra into your curse seal, I have managed to completely destroy the curse seal and thus, ruin your original chakra. If I'm not mistaken, your curse seal chakra is fused with your original chakra, so your chakra would also be affected. Of course, if your curse seal was not activated, there would be no point in destroying it. I had to drag out the battle long enough for you to unleash the curse seal power to its maximum level so that I would completely destroy it."

Sasuke just looked blankly, his breathing coming out in short gasps.

"You look puzzled; you are wondering why I would wait so long to annihilate your strength," Dark Aoshi observed. "I did it for two reasons: One, because I needed to erase the full power of the seal so that it would disappear, and two, because…I needed you to suffer."

"Su...ffer?" Sasuke breathed out.

"Your suffering will only provoke your darkness even more; however, since I have eliminated your curse seal, you will not rely on such 'artificial darkness' and instead will rely on the true darkness within your heart…and thus, your existence will have purpose."

"Purpose for what?" Sasuke managed to sputter out.

"For the One…," Dark Aoshi replied ominously.

Dark Aoshi suddenly punched Sasuke straight in the face, drawing blood from Sasuke's nose.

"Your heart has once again sunk into darkness."

He punched Sasuke's face again, splitting his lip open.

"Your promise has failed; you have willingly sunk into darkness, and now the more you suffer, the deeper you will fall into the darkness."

He sunk his fist into Sasuke's stomach, which forced blood out of Sasuke's mouth.

"Your true powers of darkness will surface without the curse seal, and you will become very useful to the One."

He grabbed Sasuke's throat and held him off the ground.

"You will have to suffer, and that is something every person cannot bear."

As he let go of Sasuke, he turned around and backkicked him straight into the opposite wall.

"But understand that you will finally have…a purpose….," Dark Aoshi finished.

Sasuke, leaning against the wall while panting and covered in blood, could do nothing except stare out into the distance.

_My…my chakra…, _Sasuke mulled. _No, not just my chakra, my whole body…it feels like it's been splintered into a million pieces…I can't mold chakra anymore…I can't even move anymore…_

"It is time," Dark Aoshi declared. "Submit to your purpose…submit to your darkness…"

The balls of fire that surrounded the arena suddenly blazed a fiery purple.

Dark Aoshi blinked. "Encircle him."

The ring of blazing purple fireballs slowly rose up into the air, and then it slowly grew smaller and smaller as it zoned in on Sasuke, who didn't even seem to care anymore.

Misao stared. "What the, I've never seen him do this before!"

The ring finally made contact with Sasuke, at which it began to form a blazing purple aura around him.

_What now…, _thought Sasuke wearily as he just lay there, doing nothing to escape the aura. _There's no point in trying to beat this thing anymore…let it take it take me, if it has to…I've already lost everything…_

"_You are weak..."_

_Huh? Where's that voice coming from…?_

_"Why are you weak?"_

_"Because there isn't enough…hatred."_

_Hatred…_

_Hatred…_

_"That's because you're weak all the time, Sasuke-CHAN!"_

All of a sudden, the purple aura exploded.

"OOOAAAAHHHHHH!" Sasuke screamed.

_What the? What the hell happened? _Dark Aoshi thought as a trace of concern went by on his face. _That wasn't supposed to…no way…_

What Dark Aoshi saw next was something he had never seen before: a swirling aura of fire surrounding Sasuke.

Yes, not the normal blue chakra, but FIRE.

Naruto looked stunned as he witnessed the impossible. "What…what the hell is going on with Sasuke!"

Sakura also looked stunned. "That's…Sasuke?"

And surrounding his right hand was an extremely heavy concentration of blazing fire. It looked a lot like…

_That Chidori…,_ Dark Aoshi thought. _Except that it's fire instead of chakra…_

The concentration of fire suddenly erupted into a blazing inferno.

Sasuke raised his flaming right hand and charged straight at Dark Aoshi.

"DON'T…SCREW…WITH…ME!" he yelled.

Dark Aoshi finally showed genuine concern on his face. _Shit! _he thought, _after that one technique, I don't have enough energy left to counter!_

Sasuke charged, his fire aura getting more aggressive as he launched his hand out. "TAKE THIS!"

Just before he could make contact, however…

BOOM!

The arena exploded with a torrent of fire, sending waves of energy at the audience.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" the original twelve cried as an energy wave hit them.

"Aaaaaahhhh!" Naruto, Sakura, and Misao cried as they were knocked back from a wave.

It took a long while for the explosion to settle, but when the light finally died down…

There was a panting Aoshi kneeling with one knee on the ground, his body reverted to normal. In front of him lay...Sasuke.

"Sasuke…he's…he's not breathing…SASUKE!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura looked overwhelmed. "Sasuke…"

"Amazing…he managed to send Aoshi-sama back to his normal form," Misao said, looking astonished and impressed.

Aoshi, still panting, managed to stand up, and walked slowly over to where the motionless body of Sasuke laid.

"Never once did I imagine…could I imagine…that you would still be able to resist the influences of darkness despite the destruction of your curse seal," Aoshi said. "Truly, you are indeed part of that prophecy…"

"But now it is all meaningless…," Aoshi said as he raised up his two powered-down kodachis. "To be able to resist the powers of true darkness…I cannot allow someone like you to exist!" he yelled as he plunged his swords.

KWANG!

The kodachis flew out of Aoshi's hands.

"What the –

Standing before Aoshi now, were Naruto, Sakura, Misao, and Kakashi

"Hey, hey, enough is enough," Kakashi calmly replied.

Naruto, on the other hand, did not feel very calm, "If you get any closer to Sasuke," he stated, red eyes burning, "I WILL KILL YOU!"

Misao ran up to Aoshi, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Please, Aoshi-sama, please stop! Please come back to me, please!"

Aoshi punched her in the face, sending her into Sakura's arms.

Misao looked stunned, "Aoshi-sama?"

"It's okay, I got you!" said Sakura. Turning to Aoshi, she said angrily, "What are you doing? Do you think you have the right to treat her this way!"

Aoshi ignored her completely and turned his attention to Naruto, who was fuming. "I have not forgotten about you, Uzumaki Naruto. The look on your face makes it clear that this…thing here," he gestured to Misao, whose eyes widened in shock, "has told you everything."

Naruto looked positively furious. "You…you slaughtered your friends, enslaved Misao, and tortured Sasuke…all because you want to find this…One!" he raged.

"Enslave? I did no such thing. She came to me of her own free will. No matter how much I influenced her, ultimately her fate lay within her choice. It is because of people's freedom of choice that they always have darkness in their hearts…," Aoshi said.

Naruto growled, "You think that's a good excuse for all that you've done!"

Aoshi glared. "It is not an excuse; it is fact."

Naruto raised his fist. "You bastard!"

His fist collided with –

- Misao's face.

"Huh? How did Misao get there?" Naruto wondered.

"Thank you, Uzumaki Naruto, you have helped me knock out this…thing. If I couldn't destroy the Uchiha, I'll at least take back what I brought. She'll feel a lot better…in my hands, of course," Aoshi replied with a hint of slyness.

Naruto was outraged. "Why you…!"

He swung at Aoshi again, but he had already disappeared.

"Hey, where did he go to!" Naruto exclaimed.

Aoshi rematerialized on top of the stadium walls. "If you want to save her…," he said. "You better follow me…"

With that, he turned and disappeared.

"Damnit…you're not getting away from me!" Naruto said as he ran to the wall.

"Wait, Naruto! You can't go with them yet, we need to heal Sasuke!" Sakura yelled.

"You guys can catch up later; I'm gonna save Jo-chan!" Naruto yelled as he too disappeared.

Sakura turned to Kakashi, who had not been saying a word. "Kakashi-sensei, you have to do something!"

Kakashi looked at the spot where Naruto was for a long time before he looked at Sakura and softly replied, "Naruto will be fine…for now, we have to take care of Sasuke first."

"But…!" Sakura began to protest.

"Excuse me, but if you guys don't hurry, Sasuke's gonna be in a lot of trouble," said Shikamaru, who had been hiding within the arena entrance.

Sakura looked surprised. "Shikamaru, where were you this whole time?"

"What, should I have stood in the middle of all that troublesome mess before?" Shikamaru asked. "Look, you guys better hurry, so that not only will you heal Sasuke faster, you will find Naruto faster. I know it's troublesome and all…but I gotta continue the matches, so…," he trailed off awkwardly.

Sakura calmed down. "You're right, Shikamaru…alright, let's call in the medi-nins here now!" she shouted.

Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, if we know Naruto, we know that he leaves a trail. Not that I mean to brag, but no one else tracks better than I…"

Sakura sighed. "Kakashi-sensei, thank you."

_That's right…, _Sakura thought as the medic-nins came and put Sasuke on a stretcher. _Everyone has their jobs to do…and the faster I do mine, the faster I can help others do theirs! _

She looked at the sky. _Naruto, Misao, I'm coming for you guys!_

Meanwhile, Naruto was rushing through the forest.

_Jo-chan, _he thought, _don't worry; I'm coming to save you!_


	17. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 16 - **Make Your Choice! The Split Power**

"GAAAHHH!" Sasuke screamed in pain.

"Hurry up, we have to get him there fast!" Sakura ordered.

"Yes, Sakura-san!" The medic-nins replied.

Upon entering the room, Sakura immediately placed Sasuke on a bed and put a respirator on his mouth.

_I have to heal the minor wounds first…_, Sakura thought as her hands started to glow green.

All of a sudden, a stream of fire spontaneously erupted from Sasuke's arm.

"Ahhh!" Sakura yelped as she barely dodged the flames.

"Argh…argh…pain…the…the PAIN!" Sasuke yelled as more flames erupted from all over his body, and then disappeared.

_This is bad…, _Sakura thought, terrified. _I can't heal him with all that fire bursting from his body…where is that fire coming from anyway?_

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned around to see Tsunade entering the room. "Tsunade-sama!"

"I came here because I knew that this problem wasn't going to be ordinary," Tsunade said.

"Tsunade-sama, Sasuke's body keeps emitting fire and his condition seems to be getting worse!" Sakura cried.

"Yes, that's why I knew it wasn't going to be ordinary," Tsunade replied. "Grab me a syringe, we're going to knock him out."

Sakura did as she said, and as Tsunade threw the syringe from a distance, a burst of fire intercepted it and burned it away.

"Guuuu….guAAAAHHHH!" Sasuke screamed louder than ever.

Sakura was practically in tears now. "Tsunade-sama, isn't there anything we can do?"

"Be calm, Sakura. I'll just knock him out with this!" Tsunade formed her hand seals.

Within a few seconds, Sasuke gradually fell into unconsciousness, and the flames also died down.

Hands trembling, Sakura collapsed to the floor in relief. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama," she said.

Tsunade just waved it off. "Next time, however," she said, her face automatically becoming stern, "be sure to learn this technique. A patient's agony does not wait for anything, understand?"

"Yes, yes, Tsunade-sama!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Alright, now that Sasuke's finally unconscious…there's something I need to tell you about him," Tsunade said, her stern face still on.

"Something about him? Do you mean you know what's wrong with him?" Sakura asked.

"Yes…although the problem is something that even I have never dealt with…."

Sakura's eyes widened.

Meanwhile…

"GET BACK HERE, YOU BASTARD!" a red-eyed Naruto charged through the forest.

_Persistent, he is…, _Aoshi thought to himself as he carried off the still body of Misao. _It's good that he's…persistent._

_He's tortured Jo-chan before…I won't let him do it again! _Naruto shouted in his head as his Kyuubi aura surrounded him once again.

Suddenly, Aoshi burst into a clearing, Naruto not far from him.

He pulled up to a stop and faced an enraged, Kyuubi-powered Naruto.

"Before we go any further, let me ask you a question, Naruto," Aoshi asked, which made Naruto calm down a bit; it was the first time that his opponent actually called him by his first name.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked guardedly; he wasn't going to let the fact that Aoshi had said his first name catch him off guard.

"Naruto, why are you following me?" Aoshi asked straightforwardly.

Naruto was now caught off his guard; not because of the continued first-name basis, but because of the absurdity of the question.

"You already know why I'm following you – I'm not going to let you hurt Misao anymore!" Naruto yelled as his orange chakra flared again.

Aoshi didn't even blink. "Is that really why you're here?"

Naruto got caught off guard again. "Huh?"

"You claim you followed me because you wanted to save your 'friend', whom you have not even known for more than a day. She is not even a denizen of this world, and therefore should not be of any concern to you, yet you still come and 'try to rescue her'. All I'm doing is taking her away from the exam, and yet you erupt with so much fury. Is she really that meaningful to you?"

"Of course she is!" Naruto said immediately. "She's suffered a lot thanks to you! She's my friend now, no matter how much little I know of her, and I don't want her to suffer anymore! I've also made a promise with her, and I won't break that promise!"

Aoshi shook his head. "I'll ask again, why are you following me?"

"I already told you, dammit, I want to save Misao and fulfill my promise!" Naruto yelled.

"No, that is not the answer," Aoshi replied. "You say you have a reason, but is it really the reason?"

Naruto gave a roar of frustration. "What the hell are you talking about!"

"Tell me, Naruto, exactly how far would you go to save her and fulfill your promise?" Aoshi asked, his voice becoming silky.

Naruto looked down at the ground. "I'll do," his voice becoming deep, "whatever it takes…because that's my ninja way!"

Aoshi did not answer; instead he began to glow with a dark purple light. A dark circle slowly formed on the ground underneath his feet, and from the circle floated flames of darkness. The flaming, pitch-black circle looked very much like a portal…

Aoshi began to sink into the portal, along with Misao. "Naruto…if you are so willing to follow your heart's desires…then follow me once more…," Aoshi's head finally disappeared underneath the dark circle.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he saw Aoshi completely disappear. _Damnit, _he thought, _he got away. But what's that thing he went into? It looks dangerous, but…_

Without growing anxiety, Naruto cautiously dipped his foot into the portal, and then back out again. He felt nothing.

"Well then…," said Naruto determinedly as he tightened the knot on his forehead protector. "If nothing happened to my foot, then nothing will happen anywhere else! I'm going in!"

With that, he plunged into the portal of darkness…

Back at the hospital…

"Tsunade-sama…so what's wrong with Sasuke?"

Both of them were standing in the waiting room down the hall from the emergency room where Sasuke was.

Tsunade cleared her throat for a bit and then spoke, "Sakura, I'm sure you've seen quite a lot of damage that Shinomori Aoshi had done to Sasuke. He had damaged Sasuke's Initial Gate, which ruined the chakra flow to his muscles. He had wounded him in many critical areas and disabled most of his functions. But those two things do not compare to the last thing that he did…"

Sakura stared. "The part when Aoshi slammed his two fingers into Sasuke?"

"Do you realize where Aoshi had slammed his fingers into?" asked Tsunade rhetorically.

Sakura thought for a minute before, "The curse seal! He hit the spot where Sasuke's curse seal was located!"

"Yes," Tsunade agreed. "I'm not sure exactly how he did such a thing, but one thing's for certain – Sasuke's curse seal is definitely gone for good."

Sakura stared, looking delighted. "So that means Sasuke's free of Orochimaru's legacy for good! He'll finally regain himself again…right, Tsunade-sama?" she asked hesitantly when she saw that her teacher was not as thrilled.

"Unfortunately, that wretched curse seal did a lot more than just give Sasuke more power…," Tsunade said.

"Huh? What else did it do?" Sakura wanted to know.

"You have to understand, that when the curse seal gives Sasuke more power, it gives Sasuke more of its chakra," Tsunade explained. "The problem is, the curse seal cannot form the chakra by itself; like a parasite, its chakra is fueled by the power of its host's chakra, the host being Sasuke. The result would be that the curse seal uses Sasuke's own chakra to fuel its own chakra and therefore give Sasuke that special chakra. This is why every time Sasuke uses the curse seal, it drains chakra out of him, because his chakra is being used to form the curse seal chakra, and when he doesn't use the curse seal chakra anymore, it doesn't convert back into his chakra; instead it goes away, leaving Sasuke with a lot less chakra than before."

"I see…yeah, I was wondering why the curse seal always made Sasuke lose so much power after he stops using it," Sakura said.

"Well, now that you know the situation, you will now know the real problem," Tsunade began. "As I said before, the curse seal relies on Sasuke's chakra to make its own special chakra to power up Sasuke. So really, the relationship was one-sided; the curse seal requiring Sasuke's chakra and Sasuke requiring nothing of it.

"Unfortunately, we all know that Sasuke had begun to voluntarily use the curse seal even more after he left the village. Whether he used it a lot during the last two and a half years is not known, but my guess is that, over time, his body began to depend more on the curse seal. Thus, the relationship becomes two-sided; the curse seal requiring the body' chakra, but at the same time, the body requiring the curse seal to grant more power. Regardless of Sasuke's will, this new symbiotic relationship linked the curse seal and Sasuke' chakra together, fusing them together into one. So every time Sasuke uses his own chakra, he is involuntarily using the power of his curse seal, whether he activated it or not. Likewise, if he uses his curse seal chakra, he is at the same time using his own chakra. The two have become one."

"But…if they have become one thing, then that means…when Aoshi destroyed the curse seal, he…NO!" Sakura looked horrified.

"He has not destroyed his chakra system per se," Tsunade explained while dreading her next words. "But he has indeed shattered the balance of his chakra system, and split his chakra into different forms of energy fragments. Because chakra is an essential element of the human body, the fact that his chakra has split apart is causing his body to become unstable, and spontaneously unleash energy."

"You mean…the fire he kept unleashing…that's…"

"Yes, the fire erupting from his body is an energy fragment of his chakra," Tsunade finished. "But the energy fragment business is merely a hypothesis, as I have no proof of it. I do know that no matter what you do to chakra, you cannot ever destroy it. That is why I think that the chakra fragmented into different energies, since there was nothing else the chakra could have done. I have also read somewhere in mythology that chakra was known as the 'supreme energy', so named because it was a combination of the elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. The Uchiha's affinity with fire is probably the reason why his body decided on keeping the fire energy as its main energy source."

"But why doesn't he show the other elements as well?" Sakura asked.

"I have a feeling that he doesn't have those elements within him, which I think is a good thing, because to have all those elements within you at the same time would be overwhelming for his body to handle. That isn't to say that he _can't _show the other elements; I believe that instead of having all the elements at the same time, he can just switch his elements around. Considering the nature of chakra, however, it should be impossible to do such a thing, although if he can do it, it's going to be very difficult to do so."

"But can't we…can't we just put his chakra back together again?" Sakura asked, almost pleadingly.

"Like I said before, to have all the elements together at the same time in the body would be overwhelming, so even if we could, his body would reject the other elements. Only one type of energy source would be sufficient enough for the body to survive; any more would be extraneous. In any case, Sakura, we cannot just simply put his chakra back together. Chakra, as we know, is a type of energy, and to simply handle chakra like any other matter is impossible. It took a great deal of energy and power to completely fragment Sasuke's chakra; to put it back together is even harder than splitting it up."

"Then…then Sasuke's chakra will have to stay that way…forever?" Sakura asked, her face fallen.

Tsunade gave a large sigh. "Unless there is some miracle, or at least a decent alternative, Sasuke's chakra will indeed have to stay that way…forever."

The two of them stood there for a while in complete silence.

Suddenly, with a _poof!_, Kakashi appeared in the room.

"Yo."

Tsunade turned to Sakura and said, "Sakura, you go back to the room and watch over Sasuke for now. Make sure he stays sleeping and during that time, you can heal his wounds."

"Yes…Tsunade-sama," Sakura said without any energy as she headed back to the emergency room.

Kakashi waited until Sakura's footsteps sounds trailed off. "Hmm, the present situation must have really gotten to her."

"That's not the worst of it," Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her right temple. "I have just told her about Sasuke's…condition."

Kakashi did not seem surprised. "So, you've told her about…it, Godaime-sama…"

"Yes…it seems our efforts to prevent this are only making it worse…," Tsunade said.

"Yes…it seems they are…," Kakashi said, looking forlorn.

_Because of one choice, many inevitable events have occurred…_

_Because of another choice, many more will come…_

Elsewhere…

"Ouch…," groaned Naruto as he rubbed his head while lying on the ground.

He slowly stood up, then sat back down hard again.

This place was not his world, he realized.

The ground he landed on was not his ground.

Naruto had lived in his world long enough to know how it felt like.

And this place…could just as well have been any other place in his world…but Naruto knew for a fact that it was most definitely not his world.

"HEY YOU!"

Naruto turned around fast…

And saw a spiked haired kid with something attached to his waist…


	18. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 17 - **HEY YOU! Rescue Team Together Again!**

"HEY YOU!"

Naruto turned around fast…

And saw a spiked haired kid with something attached to his waist…

"HEY YOU!" the kid repeated, now walking over. The thing attached to his waist looked like a wooden sword…

Naruto froze. _Is this guy talking to me? _he wondered.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" the kid pointed.

_Okay, so he IS talking to me…,_ Naruto resolved.

"Who are you and how did you get in here!" the kid demanded.

_Huh? In here? Where's…?_ Naruto looked around him for the first time and noticed that there was a medium-sized building behind that looked slightly run-down, with a name that Naruto could not read. The building, Naruto noticed, looked a lot like those wooden paper-door houses that he occasionally went to on his missions. He turned around again and realized that he was sitting in the yard of that building. Judging by the fierce look on the kid's face, apparently he had just trespassed into some private property.

"Hey, I asked you a question, punk!" the kid shouted.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "Hey, who are you calling a punk, you damn shorty!"

"'Damn…shorty'!" the kid's eyebrow also twitched. "Why don't you stand up and say that to my face, punk!"

Naruto aggressively stood up – and indeed he was taller than the kid.

"Grrrrr…KONO YAROU!" the kid bellowed.

"Shut the hell up, ya damn squirt!" Naruto yelled. "I bet you're not even older than I am either, so show some respect!"

"What! What did ya say, ya damn punk!" the kid exploded as his hand drifted to his wooden sword.

"HEY YOU!" it was a different voice this time, and it made the kid freeze.

"Yahiko, what did I tell you about getting provoked!" said the same voice, which sounded distinctly feminine and getting ever closer.

The kid closed his eyes. "Aw crap…"

A fist appeared above the kid's head and slammed down hard, making the kid yelp in pain.

"Don't you 'aw crap' me! You were seriously about to strike him, bakayarou!" said that same feminine voice, which appeared in the form of a very angry woman.

The kid grimaced as he rubbed his head, which was now producing a large bump. "I wasn't really going to strike him, ya old hag! I was only threatening him, why did you have to hit me like that!"

"WHAT! WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME!" the angry woman exploded.

The two glared at each other so closely; Naruto swore he saw electricity spark from their eyes.

"Geez…you guys are at it again…? Man…you guys are really troublesome…," came another voice, and this time it was an older male's.

"Sanosuke, he tried to attack someone!" the woman shouted.

"I WASN'T!" the kid shouted.

"Whoa, whoa, easy on the ears, please," the new voice revealed itself to be a tall, lean man who was rubbing his ears. "Anyways…exactly what the hell is going on here again?"

"Like I said before, Yahiko was provoked into attacking someone again!" the woman shouted. "No matter how many times I've told him…"

"Don't blame me! This punk here was the one who broke into our yard!" the kid shouted while pointing at Naruto with his wooden sword.

"Hey, don't point that at him, you idiot!" the woman yelled as she yanked the sword away by the blade.

"Well, I don't fancy Yahiko randomly going after strangers as much as you do, Kaoru (Yahiko: "I DON'T!")," said the man lazily while looking at Naruto. "But perhaps we should figure out who the stranger that Yahiko tried to kill (Yahiko: "That's going too far!") really is and try to clue him in; this guy looks completely lost."

It was true; Naruto was totally lost in the maniacal display of the two loudmouths.

_These guys are even louder than I am…_, he thought.

"Huh?" the woman looked confused for a sec, then, seeing Naruto, immediately put on an apologetic smile.

"Hey there! Sorry for what Yahiko tried to do to you (Yahiko: "I'm gonna get you guys for this!") earlier, he just tends to get excited at times. By the way, my name is Kamiya Kaoru of the Kamiya Dojo! And the kid that was yelling at you before is –

"My name is Myoujin Yahiko of the Kamiya Dojo and the descendant of Tokyo samurai! And don't you forget it!" Yahiko yelled while standing proud.

"Heh…what a sucker for introductions," said the man (Yahiko growled at him). "Hey kid, the name's Sagara Sanosuke, and I'm not of the Kamiya Dojo, although I am affiliated with it. Nice to meet ya."

"So what's your name?" Kaoru asked.

Naruto, for the very first time, could not shout out his usually loud introduction; instead he merely stuttered, "Uh…well, I'm Uzumaki Naruto…and well, I'm not really around from here…"

"Yeah, the blond hair kinda does give it away," Sanosuke said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, you're not from around here? Did you just get here?" Kaoru asked.

"Um…yeah, I guess," Naruto said.

"Oh, what country are you from?" Kaoru asked.

Naruto had been expecting this question, and as he could not think of a better answer, he therefore contented himself with the truth. "I'm from…the Country of Fire."

"The Country of…what?" Sanosuke asked curiously. "I've only traveled a little bit so far, but I don't think any country in this world has that name, kid."

"He's lying! He must be a spy, that's why he broke in here!" Yahiko yelled.

"Yahiko, please!" Kaoru yelled, putting back on her angry face. Turning back to Naruto, she restored her happy face and said, "The Country of Fire? Are you sure you've gotten the name right?"

"Look, that's not the important thing here! The important thing is why he's on our property when the gates were closed!" Yahiko shouted.

"Now that I think about it, I kinda want to know too," Sanosuke agreed.

Forgetting all of his nerves, Naruto began yelling. "Hey, I didn't break in here if that's what you guys are saying! I don't even know how I got in here, anyway!"

"It's okay, we're not accusing you of anything!" said Kaoru reassuringly (Yahiko: "Hmph, speak for yourself."). "We just think it's weird that you managed to come in here without even opening the gates, and then you say a country that doesn't exist. Why don't you start from the very beginning?"

Naruto looked down and took a deep breath. "The country that I'm from is really the Country of Fire, but the only reason why it doesn't exist in this world is because…"

"Is because…?" Kaoru pressed.

"Is because it's from another world…"

"Another what?" Sanosuke asked.

"And I am not of this world…"

Meanwhile…

"Tsunade."

Tsunade gave a startled cry as she woke up from her nap.

Kodachi sighed, "Tsunade, you must take the Hokage matters seriously."

Tsunade also sighed, "Kodachi-sama, what news have you brought?"

"It has happened; the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki has left this world," said Kodachi.

"He left? Already?" Tsunade could not believe it.

"Yes; he left through the dark portal that Shinomori Aoshi went through. It is highly likely that both of them have gone to the same world."

Tsunade looked distraught. "After everything we have done…I can't believe it's happening…you were right, Kodachi-sama."

"Nonsense, Tsunade," Kodachi reassured. "No matter what I had said before, the situation will not always go the way it should. Do not blame yourself Tsunade; you have done your best to try and stop it."

Tsunade looked down at her hands, which were locked together in a way almost similar to Shikamaru's hands when he was thinking intently. After a while, her hands relaxed and she looked up.

"There are still ways that I can prevent this, right Kodachi-sama?" Tsunade asked.

Kodachi looked at her intently before he replied. "Yes, you still have a chance," he said.

Looking slightly relieved, Tsunade stood up. "Alright, then I thank you for coming, Kodachi-sama."

"You don't need to thank me, Tsunade," Kodachi said as he disappeared.

Wasting no time, Tsunade opened her door and walked down to the emergency room.

Meanwhile…

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

Even though Sasuke was unconscious, Sakura could still see the pain on Sasuke's face.

"Don't worry, Sasuke, we'll find a way to put you back together again…," Sakura said gently, even though she knew that it was impossible.

The door flew open. Sakura turned around to see her teacher standing there.

Tsunade looked serious. "Sakura, as of now you have a mission."

Sakura looked puzzled. "A mission? What…?"

"Geez, just when I thought my first job was troublesome, I get thrown into yet another troublesome task…how troublesome…," said Shikamaru as he came into the room.

"You're the best at strategizing anyway, as you've been the last time we've been on a rescue mission," came Neji's voice as he also came into the room.

Sakura was confused. "Shikamaru? Neji? What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to be a part of this troublesome mission…," Shikamaru sighed. "And apparently I'm the leader…again."

"I've noticed strange things that have happened during Naruto's and Sasuke's matches," Neji replied. "I wish to know more of what they are."

"This was the same group of people who rescued Sasuke from Orochimaru," Tsunade explained. "Since you guys had managed to succeed before, I would expect no less of you guys again this time."

_And plus…, _thought Neji, _I still have something to owe…_

"The last member should be here any minute," Tsunade declared.

At that moment, the door opened up again, revealing Rock Lee. "I apologize for being late!" he said enthusiastically.

"That's all right," said Tsunade.

"Wait a minute, what about Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

As if by response, Kakashi appeared again with a _poof!_

"Sorry, Sakura, but I have to stay behind here. Eventually Sasuke will awake up, and when he does, I'll have to guide him on using his new powers well."

As soon as he said that, he gave Tsunade a knowing glance.

Tsunade returned it.

"Alright, now that you guys are all here, I will be telling you what the mission is about," Tsunade said while Kakashi relaxed in the background and pulled out his book. "This is going to be an S-class PLUS mission, because of one, you will be rescuing a person, and two, you will be facing a danger that is not of this world."

"Not of this world? What do you mean, Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru asked.

"Remember those two people who killed their opponents in the preliminaries?" Tsunade asked. Except for Sakura and Kakashi, everyone else nodded. "Well, see…"

"…so these guys are from another world and they have some kind of special power that can make themselves stronger? And you guys planned this chuunin exam just to get them?" Neji asked skeptically after Tsunade had finished explaining the situation.

"Tsunade-sama, what is this business about them being not from this world?" Shikamaru asked, even more skeptical.

"I know, I know, it's not easy to believe, but unfortunately that is the truth, and I cannot say anything more to make you guys believe me. And yes, Neji, this chuunin exam was used as a feint to spy on the outworlders. It was a real exam, but we used it for a different purpose," Tsunade explained.

"But Hokage-sama, what does this have anything to do with Naruto-kun?" Lee asked.

"Naruto, in his hurried quest to seek out the two of them, apparently has followed them into the other world," Tsunade replied.

"What? That means…Naruto's in a different world?" Sakura gasped.

"Great, the situation just got even more troublesome," Shikamaru remarked.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Think about it: In this world, no matter how far Naruto will chase those two, he'll be safe from most harm because he has the home field advantage. But when Naruto appeared in the other world, the advantage went to the foreigners. Also, we don't even know where Naruto even appeared in when he went to the other world. For all we know, he entered the world and immediately landed into a trap that only the foreigners knew. And because he's in another world, we have absolutely no means of knowing what's happening to him right now."

"So regardless of how Naruto's doing right now, we have to save him no matter what, right?" Neji confirmed.

Shikamaru shrugged. "It's troublesome, but yeah."

"We must save him no matter what!" Lee shouted with vigor.

"Shikamaru has sized up the situation perfectly," Tsunade said. "It is because of everything that he said that makes this mission an S-class PLUS mission."

She looked at all of them intently. "Naruto is a member of this village, as well as Sasuke was…no matter what, we cannot leave him behind, understand?"

All four of them nodded.

"Good, alright now you will all proceed with going on the mission," Tsunade commanded.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" the four replied.

"…but just one question, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru hesitated.

"What is it, Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked.

"How is it that you know all about what's going on here? I mean, you said it yourself; the places beyond our world are completely unknown, yet you knew that those two people were foreigners. How do you know all this?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously.

Kakashi's eyes flickered from his book.

"Shikamaru, I have learned from my sources that there are places beyond this world," replied Tsunade. "Unfortunately, and I hope you forgive me, that I cannot tell you any more beyond that point. It doesn't matter for now, anyway, since it will not hinder your mission at all."

"I see…," Shikamaru nodded, though his eyes were more alert than before.

"Well now," said Kakashi as he snapped his book closed. "Now that you guys know what to do, it's now time to begin the mission."

"But we don't know where to go," Lee pointed out.

"Oh, that's okay. I'll be taking you guys there," said Kakashi as he walked over to them.

"Huh? What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"First, all of you stand in the center of the room, each person facing a direction," Kakashi intstructed.

Although slightly confused, the four of them did as they were told, and stood in the center of the room, Shikamaru facing North, Sakura East, Lee West, and Neji South.

Kakashi then pulled out a large scroll from inside his vest, and opened it up. He set the scroll, which was completely blank, onto the floor, closed his eyes and then started forming hand seals.

"Um…Kakashi-sensei…," Sakura began timidly.

"Sakura, don't speak," Kakashi ordered while forming more hand seals, and Sakura immediately silenced. "In fact, when this is all over, I want nobody to say or do anything."

Kakashi finally ended the sequence with a Ram hand seal.

KUCHIYOSE: REIMEI NO DOA!

He slammed both palms into the blank page of the scroll, and produced a black summoning circle, of which afterwards inscriptions suddenly began appearing on the page. The inscriptions started to illuminate a shining light.

At once, a bright circle appeared underneath the team of four. Even though they were slightly fearful of what was happening, they decided to remain still as flames of light smoked up into the air from the circle.

Kakashi finished the technique and then, closing the scroll, he handed it over to Sakura. "This is what you need to use in order to get back to this world," Kakashi said.

Sakura was confused, "But I don't –

"The hand seals are: Dog, Hare, Ox, Horse, Snake, Rat, Monkey, Boar, and then Ram," Kakashi explained. "Remember, it's a summoning jutsu, and the name is Reimei no Doa, got that?"

"Wait, no that wasn't my question!" Sakura yelled as she and the rest began to sink into the portal.

"Don't worry, Sakura," Kakashi said as Sakura's head disappeared into the portal. "Someday, you will understand…"

_You will understand…_

Kakashi sighed as the portal sealed up and disappeared. "That was a close one," he said.

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, that Shikamaru kid is sharper than he was before. It almost made want to tell them –

"We will have to tell them eventually," Kakashi said.

Tsunade nodded again as she looked down at the floor.

_If only it didn't have to be you guys…_


	19. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 18 - **You Damn Ninja! The Man of Solutions Returns!**

"So…let me get this straight. You're from another world _completely _different from this one, and you're from a country that we've never heard of called the Country of Fire, and you're from a _village_ that we've never heard of called Hidden Leaf, and as of a few minutes ago, you've just popped into this world, which you've never heard of. Am I right so far?" Sanosuke asked.

"Yeah, just like how you were right the last five times you asked!" Yahiko snapped.

"By the way, where am I?" Naruto asked.

"You, my friend, are sitting in the Kamiya Dojo, owned by the wonderful and beautiful Kamiya Kaoru!" Sanosuke said enthusiastically.

"Sanosuke, you're _still_ not going to get a free lunch, so don't bother!" Kaoru said flatly, making Sanosuke's head drop down.

"Hey, back then you always gave me a free lunch, what's the deal now?" Sanosuke complained.

"Yes, that was _back then_, back when you still lived in Tokyo! But now, since you've decided to 'stop by' here, you will be treated just like every other traveler who stops by here!" Kaoru said, her hands on her hips.

"Wait a minute, since when am I 'every other traveler'? Does…does this have anything to do with the fact that I left in the first place?" Sanosuke asked.

"Hmph! Consider it payback!" Kaoru yelled.

"Tch…geez…and I thought Kenshin made you softer over the last two years," Sanosuke said ruefully.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kaoru asked while a slight blush began to govern her face.

"It means that Kenshin must not have been doing his 'job'," Sanosuke winked. "Man, he was probably saving another village from some thieves or something and forgot about you; geez, I'm going to have to beat some sense into him when he comes back."

Noticing Naruto's confused look, he explained, "Oh, Kenshin is another friend of ours. It's a good thing you're from 'another world' as you say because to not know Kenshin around here would be pretty embarrassing."

"Why, what's so special about him?" Naruto asked.

"What's so special about him?" Yahiko repeated as if it was such a ridiculous question. "He's the number one swordmaster in Japan! He operates under the style of the legendary Hiten Mitsurugi! I would like to learn it too, but he won't let me, that bastard…," Yahiko shook his fist.

"And plus…," Sanosuke stopped and thought for a second before he grinned. "Kaoru here is Kenshin's…," he stuck out his pinky.

He was suddenly knocked on the head by a wooden sword. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" shouted Kaoru as she chased a laughing Sanosuke around the dojo floor.

Yahiko watched them while shaking his head. "Geez, and she says _I'm_ hot-tempered." Turning back to Naruto, he asked, "So then, are you really serious about not sneaking in here?"

Naruto exploded, "I told you, dammit, I just appeared there! I don't know how I got there!'

Yahiko didn't crack a smile. "Oh really? Judging by what you got here…," Yahiko reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of kunais and shurikens. "You seem like the kind of guy that _can_ break into property."

"What the…," Naruto automatically reached behind him and felt for his bag, which was gone. "How the…how did you…?"  
"I swiped it from you when we walked into the dojo," Yahiko explained while he opened the bag and took out various weapons. "I'm not too proud of these pickpocketing skills, but they do come in handy from time to time, especially if there's something I need to know," he said, eyeing Naruto. "You're a ninja, aren't you?"

At those words, Kaoru and Sanosuke stopped their bickering and looked at Naruto.

Naruto looked puzzled. "Um…yeah, I'm a ninja. Why, what's wrong with that?"

Sanosuke immediately clenched his fist.

"Wait, no, Sanosuke! I don't think he's one of them," Kaoru said, putting her hand on Sanosuke's fist.

"Kaoru, you can't be too sure, for all we know, he was sent by them!" said Yahiko as he raised his wooden sword and got into a battle stance.

"Wait, Yahiko!"

Sanosuke brushed off Kaoru's hand, his face now grim. "The last thing I want right now is to suddenly have one of _them _invading this place. Kaoru, you stay back there, Yahiko and I will take care of him," he said as his other hand balled into a fist.

Naruto was scared shitless. "Wait, wait, wait, I was serious about before, I just got here!"

"Hey, when it comes to dealing with a punk ninja, anything could be possible," Sanosuke said. "Yahiko, you ready?"

"Yeah!" Yahiko shouted.

The two charged at him.

"Teach you to bust in here, ninja!" Sanosuke shouted as he raised his right fist.

Naruto stared. _Shit, I gotta do something!_

He crossed his fingers.

KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!

…

_Wait, what's going on?_

"Yahhh!" Yahiko roared as he swung his sword.

Naruto was too preoccupied to notice the sword coming until it gave him a good bump in the head.

WHAM!

"Owwww! That hurt, ya bastard!" Naruto cried, rubbing his head.

"It won't hurt as much as this!" Suddenly, Sanosuke's fist met Naruto's chest.

BAM!

It looked like an ordinary punch. It didn't feel like an ordinary punch.

"Aaaaahh!" Naruto cried in pain as he slammed into the wall.

"Yahiko! Sanosuke! Stop this right now!" Kaoru commanded.

But whatever it was, Yahiko and Sanosuke couldn't hear Kaoru's orders as they rushed in.

_Shit…these guys aren't messing around, _Naruto thought nervously while rubbing his chest. _And from the looks of it, they're pretty strong! I have no choice then…_

"HEY YOU!"

Yahiko and Sanosuke froze.

Naruto pointed a finger straight at them while trying hard to stand up. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to surpass all the Hokages of Konoha! There is no way in hell I'm going to lose to any of you!" he declared. "GOT THAT!"

_Whoa…where did that come from?_ Sanosuke wondered.

_He's got quite a big mouth…_, thought Yahiko.

"You've got spunk, kid, but none of that's gonna save you from what we're gonna do to you!" Sanosuke yelled as they rushed in again.

_This is bad…, _Naruto thought as they ran at him. _They're really serious about this...I gotta try again!_

He concentrated harder.

KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!

Only one clone popped out next to him.

_Only one? I wanted five!_

Sanosuke and Yahiko stopped again, only this time it was because of fear.

"What the…how the hell did he do that?" Sanosuke wondered.

"That…that can't be real…," Yahiko stood stunned.

_What did he just do?_ Kaoru thought.

Naruto smiled, "Perfect, now it's a good two vs. two, and this we'll be the ones coming at ya!"

"Actually, I don't think that will be necessary," said a voice.

Sanosuke turned around.

Yahiko dropped his sword.

Kaoru looked startled.

A figure stood in the doorway. "Hello everyone, I'm back," said the figure.

Meanwhile…

Sakura was the first to awake.

_Ungh…ow, that hurt…,_ thought Sakura as she rubbed her head. She looked around for a bit before standing up. "Where are we?"

The others were also beginning to stir.

"Wow…now THAT was troublesome," complained Shikamaru as he stood up and rotated his neck.

"I agree, Shikamaru-kun," said Lee as he brushed the dust off his bowled hair.

"Are you guys injured anywhere?" Sakura asked.

"No, we are fine," said Neji, who had already activated his Byakugan and was scanning the area.

"Anything worth noting?" Shikamaru asked Neji.

"…No, no enemies or traps in sight, but nevertheless we should still be careful," Neji said as he turned off his Byakugan.

"Geez, there's a troublesome smell in here," Shikamaru winced as he sniffed the air. "It smells like sulfur and charcoal."

"What is this place?" asked Lee as he looked around their present setting.

"It looks like some sort of a bar," Sakura replied, who was also looking around.

Shikamaru rubbed his fingers along the counter top, then looked at his fingers to see a thick layer of dust attached to them.

"Looks abandoned, from the looks of it," Shikamaru observed. "The dust hasn't been disturbed for a while."

"It looks like they had an accident here too," Neji added. "Most of the furniture here's a wreck."

"Some of the glassware's broken too," Sakura said as she carefully made her way around the shattered glass pieces, which were also covered with dust. "It's weird, though…most of the bottles have their ends busted…"

"Hey everyone, look at this wall," Lee said to everyone.

They all went to see where Lee was pointing.

"There are vandalism marks on this wall," Lee pointed out.

"They look like sword slashes…," Neji analyzed.

For a minute, there was silence.

"It looks like more than just an accident happened here…," Shikamaru remarked.

"Wait a minute, the sword slashes have a certain pattern to them," Sakura said.

"What kind of pattern?" Neji asked.

"They're written like a kanji, but I can't really make it out…," Sakura tried to read.

"It looks like…," Lee looked closely.

"'Shi?'" Sakura wondered.

"…'Death'," Neji translated.

There was another silence.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome…," he said again. "Alright, since there's nothing important left in this place, let's hurry and get out so we can find Naruto."

The others agreed. Lee went up to the door and proceeded to open it. The moment he turned the knob, however…

CRASH!

The entire door fell down.

"Way to use your strength, Lee," Neji said sarcastically.

"No…," said Lee, frowning. "This door…it was already off its hinges before…"

"Off its hinges?" Neji also frowned.

"The hinges don't even look old," observed Lee, still frowning.

_Even if door hinges got rusty, the door itself wouldn't fall so easily. If the door could fall that easily, the hinges didn't loosen by themselves…somebody loosened them, _Shikamaru thought, feeling a sense of foreboding. _But they wouldn't purposely loosen them like that…unless…!_

"Everyone, we got to get out of here!" Shikamaru yelled.

Nobody hesitated. They all ran out of there just before –

BOOM!

The bar exploded.

Meanwhile…

"Back so soon?" Kaoru asked.

The man nodded. "And judging from the looks of things, I must have come back at the right time, right?" he smiled, making the others sheepishly smile in return.

"Did you get a new student, Kaoru-dono?" he asked while looking at Naruto.

Naruto kept staring at the man. His height was small compared to Sanosuke, but his red hair that was tied into a ponytail was certainly longer than everyone else's. His clothes were also unremarkable; he was only wearing a kimono with a blue top and a white bottom, and both parts were slightly torn and patched up. Strapped at his waist beneath his waist sash was a long iron sheath that obviously held a sword within it. On his face there was a cross scar on his left cheek that looked like he had gotten it during a small encounter, for the intersecting scars looked too perfect to have been made during a battle.

But it wasn't the cross scar or the sword strapped at his waist or his red hair or his dirty kimono that Naruto kept staring at the man. He stared at him because although he didn't understand why, he just knew that…

_This guy's strong…,_ Naruto thought, a drop of sweat coming down his head. _I don't know how I know, but I just know that he's strong…_

"Actually, he's…," Kaoru began.

"He's a ninja!" Yahiko exclaimed.

"And we found him in the yard as we were coming in. He says he's from another world, but it just sounds a bit too fishy, eh Kenshin?" Sanosuke said.

"Wait a minute, you're Kenshin?" Naruto blurted out.

"Hey, show some respect, ninja!" Yahiko reprimanded.

"Now, now, it's alright, Yahiko, just calm down," the man said, still smiling. He turned to Naruto and said, "Hello there, my name is Himura Kenshin, what's yours?"

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, but…," Naruto suddenly felt a sense of dawning. "Wait a minute…did you just say your last name was Himura?"

"Oh, are you familiar with that name, young man?" Kenshin inquired.

"I sure do! This one girl in my world told me about you! I'm not quite sure about her last name, but I'm pretty sure that her name was Misao!" Naruto yelled.

At the mention of Misao's name, EVERYONE turned to stone.

"…and I'm guessing you guys know who she is…," Naruto added hesitantly.

"You met Misao-chan! Where did you see her! Is she all right! How did you guys even meet!" Kaoru reacted while grabbing the front of Naruto's jacket.

"Hey, easy, easy, now…," Sanosuke grabbed Kaoru gently and sat her down, although his hands were also trembling slightly. "Alright, her questions are also my questions, what's going on?" he asked Naruto.

"Don't bother, he's probably lying! That's how ninjas are!" Yahiko yelled out.

"Yahiko, please!" Kaoru shouted, but she had calmed down.

"Naruto-kun…," Naruto turned around and saw Kenshin staring at him, looking concerned. "Where did you meet Misao-dono?"

Naruto knew that if he hesitated from now on, they would denounce him as a liar, so he just said it all out, "I met her in my world, during when we were taking the Chuunin Exam, and I even fought her."

"And you said you were from a different world, correct?" Kenshin looked at him curiously.

"Kenshin, you can't possibly believe him!" Yahiko yelled out.

"Yahiko, I must ask you to remain silent," Kenshin said neutrally, and from that, Yahiko automatically closed his mouth. "Now, Naruto-kun, you said you were from a different world?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah," he said.

Kenshin closed his eyes for a second, then opened them back up and said, "It's just as I feared."

"What, what is it, Kenshin?" Kaoru asked.

"During the last two times that I went on my journey, one last year and the other that I just came back from, I had also been searching for Misao-dono. I searched for her everywhere that she might be, but no matter what, I could not find her. The same was also for Aoshi."

Kenshin turned and looked at Naruto. "Naruto-kun, have you seen Aoshi along with Misao-dono?"

"Yes, I have," Naruto confirmed.

"You saw Aoshi too?" Sanosuke asked.

"He was also in the Chuunin Exam, although the way he beat up my friend and took away Jo-chan…," Naruto gritted his teeth. "I will _never _forgive him!"

"Now, now, since it was, as you say, an exam, he probably went a little too hard on your friend, but he is still a good person –

"Are you kidding! From what I heard, he was the one who killed the entire Oniwabanshuu!" Naruto shouted.

Everyone looked stunned.

"Aoshi…was the one who destroyed the Oniwabanshuu?" Yahiko gasped.

"I heard it all from Jo-chan; she told me that after Aoshi destroyed the Oniwabanshuu, he told her to come with him so that they could find this thing called the 'One' or something like that…," Naruto threw up his hands.

"Wow…and here I almost thought Aoshi became a good guy. Guess not," said Sanosuke grudgingly.

"Naruto-kun, did you see what happened to them before you ended up here?" Kaoru asked.

"Well, after the shady guy beat up my friend, he stole Jo-chan away and then ran off into the forest. I chased after him and then all of a sudden, he opened up this really dark thing…and then he disappeared into it. I decided I wasn't going to stop following him, so I went into the thing too, and then after that I guess that's how I ended up here," Naruto said. But then, he just had a thought…

"Wait, if you guys know both Aoshi and Misao, then this…this must be their world!" Naruto shouted. "And since I followed them and I came into this place…then that means they're back in this world too!"

He stood up fast, startling everyone. "I'm sorry, guys, but I gotta go; I have to go save Jo-chan right now!"

He started to move, but Kenshin stopped him.

"Naruto-kun, I understand how you feel, but you must not go yet," Kenshin said. "If you really are from another world, then you cannot just go out and expect to find Misao-dono so easily. The roads will be unfamiliar to you and therefore you could easily get lost."

"If I get lost, then I'll just find another way! Let go!" Naruto tried to wrestle out of Kenshin's strong grip.

"Naruto-kun, do you remember how Sanosuke and Yahiko had attacked you?"

Naruto stopped struggling. "Yeah," he said.

"They had attacked you not out of hatred or anger, but out of fear. You see, ever since the destruction of the Oniwabanshuu, the various ninja clans in this country have grown extremely dangerous. They have resorted to criminal activities such as thievery, robbery, alliances with the yakuza, and worst of all, murder. Probably it was because the Oniwabanshuu's control over them had disappeared, but whatever the reason, they have become the nation's worst terrorism threat. If you go out there, every person who hates or fears the ninjas will destroy you, no matter who you are. You look very strong, but no amount of strength of one person is enough against a million. Do you understand, Naruto-kun?" Kenshin finished explaining.

Naruto stood there glaring at Kenshin for a few seconds, then finally sighed and sat back down.

"But then what else should I do?" Naruto asked exasperatedly.

"Do not worry, we will think of something," Kenshin said.

"Yeah, when it comes down to it, Kenshin's the man of solutions," Sanosuke said while patting Kenshin on the back really hard.

"Oro?" Kenshin gasped from the pain. "Anyway, in the meantime, you can just stay here and rest. I'm sure you are tired and you have many questions to ask, which is all right, since I'm also sure that all of us have questions to ask you." He looked at the others, who also nodded, except for Yahiko, who merely moved his head.

Naruto's stomach suddenly gave a loud grumble.

Kenshin chuckled. "And maybe some food would be nice too."


	20. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Note: After this chapter, I will have to go on a hiatus because of the threat of the incoming college year. I will try to update sporadically, but don't expect me to update all the time from now on. Of course, this doesn't mean that I'm going to stop this fanfic, but it just means that until I manage to get spare time, this fanfic will be temporarily halted. I apologize for this, but for all those who go to school (which is practically all of you), you will definitely understand.

Got it? Good. Now you can finally read.

Chapter 19 - **Surrounded! The Chakra Use is Deadly!**

BOOM!

The explosion finally settled.

"Is everybody all right?" Sakura asked, unharmed.

They were now on the streets outside several other buildings.

"Yes, Sakura-san, everybody's fine," said Lee as everyone got up to their feet.

"I don't understand…," said Neji as he slowly got up and dusted off his clothes, looking a bit frazzled. "I didn't see a single trap anywhere…and yet…"

"Maybe the trap was hidden really perfectly?" Lee offered.

"No, the trap was simply an explosion trigger, there was nothing troublesome about it," Shikamaru said. "Could it be that there's something troublesome with your Byakugan, Neji?" he asked him.

"No…except for one thing, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my Byakugan. That's what makes me really concerned…," Neji said thoughtfully.

"There's one thing wrong? What is that?" Lee asked.

"By Hyuuga law, I am not allowed to say," Neji stated bluntly.

"Alright…well, we're just going to have to be more careful now. The state of that trap means that someone has been expecting intruders, so there might be even more traps from now on," Shikamaru said.

"By the way, Shikamaru, how did you know about the trap in the bar?" Sakura asked.

"Well, there were a couple of clues: One, as I mentioned before, there was a troublesome smell of sulfur and charcoal. And I know that sulfur and charcoal are the basic parts of gunpowder. The second clue was with the unhinged door. My guess was that the trap was designed so that anyone who went into the bar through that door would spark some flame on the gunpowder, leading to the explosion."

"I see…well, it's a good thing you told us to get out quickly!" Lee smiled.

"Yeah, and it's equally good that you guys listened to me immediately," said Shikamaru. "Unlike what happened last time…," he added.

The other three, except for Neji who was scanning the area, gave sheepish looks.

"Shikamaru-kun…it was just an accident, please don't get mad…," Lee smiled hesitantly.

"You call this an accident!" Shikamaru snarled as he lifted up his sleeve to show his shoulder scar.

"Shikamaru, at least we accomplished our mission and nobody was lost…right?" Sakura knew exactly what to say, for those were the only two things that Shikamaru worried about.

Shikamaru sighed, then smiled, "Geez…you guys are still troublesome…"

Sakura and Lee grinned back a little too happily.

"Guys, I see no sign of any enemies yet," Neji said as he finished scanning.

"Are you certain?" Shikamaru asked cautiously.

"…Fairly certain," Neji said after a second of silence.

"Okay…we're just going to have to tread really cautiously and hopefully get out of this troublesome place," Shikamaru said.

"Hehe…don't worry, you guys ain't gettin out of here," said a rough voice.

The group froze.

"Well, well, looks like we got ourselves a couple of little kids here," said a man, who walked out of an alley. His face was covered with quite a load of pock marks, but most of them were shrouded by his long, shaggy hair. He was thin, and his clothes were ragged and torn with a loss of color. Despite his messy appearance, however, he certainly had a fit physical form, and there were scars on his arms as well. He also looked like he was the one with the rough voice.

"Don't be kidding yourself, Izuka, these kids look pretty strong, considering how they dodged our trap here," said another man who appeared a few feet behind the first one. The second man had an eye patch on his left eye, and although he looked older than the first man, he did not look any less gentle.

"What do you men want with us?" Shikamaru demanded

The older man smirked. "You kids must not value your lives to even come to this place."

"Anyone who comes here never gets out!" Izuka laughed madly.

Shikamaru suddenly had an idea. "So the only way to get out of here is to get through you guys?" he asked.

"Nope…ya gotta get through all of us!" Izuka shouted as the street lamps sutddenly flickered on, revealing…a HELLLOAD of scrappy-looking people creeping out of the buildings.

"Neji, are you sure nothing's wrong with your byakugan?" Lee asked quietly.

"Lee…shut up," Neji replied even though he was slightly concerned.

"Hehehe…of course since you guys are all kids, we'll let you guys go," the eye patched man said.

"…For a price, of course," Izuka grinned.

The crowd suddenly had a hungry look to their eyes as they feasted them upon…Sakura.

"Give us the girl, and we'll let you all free," said the eye patched man, who was licking his lips. The mob laughed wildly.

"We will never do such a thing!" Lee declared angrily.

Shikamaru suddenly twitched. His head shook slightly, his left eye winked, and his hand closed into a fist and opened again.

Sakura firmly closed her eyes and opened them again.

Lee suddenly fell silent.

"Alright," said Shikamaru, his strength deflating, looking defeated, "we'll hand her over."

He grabbed Sakura and pushed her towards the men.

"Alright, let's get this sexy prize!" said Izuka as he grabbed Sakura by her arms.

Suddenly…

"OW!" cried Izuka as he released Sakura. "What the fuck did you do to me, you little bitch!" he shouted as he looked at his burned hands.

Before he could do anything more to her, Sakura reached up with one finger and flicked him on the forehead. The blow sent him flying straight into the mob.

"Why you…KILL THAT WHORE!" yelled the men as they charged towards Sakura, while not seeing her hand balled into a fist….

BOOM!

With as much chakra as she could muster into her fist, Sakura slammed it straight into the ground, causing the ground beneath the men to explode.

"AAAHHH!" cried some of the men as they fell into the newly-made fissure from Sakura's punch.

As the remaining men stood shaking in terror of Sakura, she straightened herself up and glared at them with a glare that rivaled that of Sasuke's.

"Touch me again and I'll kill you all," she said coldly.

The man with the eye patch also looked intimidated, but quickly reasserted himself and shouted, "What are you guys standing there for? Kill them all!"

"YEAAAAHHHH!" roared the men as they charged in on the four.

NINPOU: KAGE MANE NO JUTSU!

Suddenly they were all frozen in place.

Every single one of them, including Izuka and the eye patched man.

Shikamaru sighed as he held the Rat seal. "This whole deal has been so troublesome…but the way you guys want to kill us is even more troublesome. I guess I'm going to have to end this with a more troublesome move…for you guys, of course," he said.

He formed several different seals before ending with the Rat seal again.

NINPOU: KAGE KUBISHIBARI NO JUTSU!

In less than three seconds, the only people who didn't choke to death were Shikamaru, Sakura, Lee, Neji,…and the eye patched man.

"Why didn't you kill him, Shikamaru?" Lee asked.

"We need to know information…and this guy look like he's the brains behind everything," Shikamaru explained. Which was half true; the real reason Shikamaru did not kill the eye patched man was…well, he was unable to…

"Don't look so good now, do ya, kid?" the eye patched man taunted, even though he was still bound by Shikamaru's shadow.

It was true; Shikamaru for some reason looked to be in a seriously bad shape. With his breathing heightened, and his composure weakened, he tried to maintain his shadow binding, but it capitulated and his shadow sunk back to its normal position.

"Shikamaru, are you all right? What happened?" Sakura asked worriedly as Shikamaru stumbled a bit.

The eye patched man grinned. "Well, kids, you guys all seem to have guts and the strength to prove it. It's no wonder the boss wanted you all so bad…"

"What? The…boss?" Sakura repeated.

The man ignored her. "Let me warn you all about one thing," he said as he slowly crossed his arms in front of his chest. "In this place, Kyoto, some of us are just dumb shits waiting to screw the next couple of idiots who wander in this dump. Others…like the boss and me…go for something much…much…better…"

As Sakura, Neji, Lee, and the fatigue-ridden Shikamaru looked on in horror, a very familiar purple aura surrounded the eye patched man…

"Rrrrrrr….rrrraaaaaaahhhhhh!" the eye patched man screamed as his aura settled to reveal his electrified, muscle-powered body.

_Oh no…it's that same dark power that both Misao and Aoshi used! _Sakura thought, terrified.

"Hehehehehe…," the eye patched man laughed as he stomped on the ground, sparking more electricity around his body. "So then…," he bared his rotted teeth, "shall we?"

In an instant, he disappeared and smashed Lee right across the face.

"Lee-san!" Sakura yelled as Lee hit the ground and lay still.

_Ugh…how troublesome…I only use Kage Mane once, and my chakra's already gone…,_ Shikamaru groaned in his head as he struggled to maintain his stance. _I…can't…do anymore…_

Shikamaru suddenly fell to the ground and lay still.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura cried out despairingly.

"Only two little kids left for me to punk, eh?" the eye patched man grinned. "I'll take you all out and then I'll take the girl!"

He rushed forward just as –

KAITEN!

- a whirl of chakra forced him onto the ground.

"I don't like to talk much about fate…," heard the eye patched man as he saw Neji get into a stance. "But the battle ends right here!"

HAKKE: ROKUJYUUYONSHOU!

The one hundred twenty-six strikes slammed straight into the eye patched man all at once, forcing a cry of pain from his mouth and sent him plummeting onto the ground again.

"You did it!" Sakura yelled happily.

Neji wanted to agree, but he also began to pant furiously. _What is this…I only did my basic chakra attacks…and I'm already drained…this happened to Shikamaru too!_

Before Neji could openly complain, the sounds of laughter rang again.

"Wow, you got some nice talent there, kid. I'm not quite sure how you did it, but you pretty much cut my power in half here!" the eye patched man laughed viciously.

"But it's too bad…after all that effort, and you guys are still going to die…," the man grinned as he got back onto his feet acting like nothing had even happened.

_What's this…he already healed himself from my attack?_ Neji thought alarmingly as he panted.

The eye patched man charged. "DIE!"

Suddenly, a sword came out of nowhere and slammed straight into the side of his head, killing him instantly.

"Idiot…you made me ruin my newest blade," said a new man. He walked over and picked out his sword from the eye patch man's head, where it started squirting blood.

Sakura stared at the man. He was dressed in a blue uniform, his black bangs were as thin as antennae, and his eyes had a peculiar evil look…


	21. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 20 – **A Respectful Challenge! Return of the Wolf**

In spite of Naruto's impatience, he managed to have all the time in the world to chow down on the food that the Kamiya Dojo served him.

The others stared at him blankly as he practically shoved his food down into his mouth.

"What?" Naruto asked as he noticed them staring at him.

"Do you…actually… _like_ the food?" Yahiko asked, nonplussed.

BONK!

"What kind of a question is that, Yahiko!" Kaoru yelled furiously as she slammed her fist into Yahiko's head again.

"Now, now, see what Yahiko's trying to ask you is…do you realize that this food was made of cooking gone wrong?" Sanosuke said with a smirk.

"I'll have you know that this food is perfect!" Kaoru screamed as she repeatedly clobbered Sanosuke with zero effect.

"Now come on, I'm sure Kaoru-dono's food isn't _that_ bad, that it isn't," offered Kenshin helpfully.

"Kenshin, not you too!" Kaoru cried as her eyes got all bubbly.

"I like it!" Naruto declared. "I think this food is really good!"

The others stopped bickering for a second to let the words sink in.

"You actually think that stuff is good?" Yahiko looked, if possible, even more nonplussed.

"Yeah! The only thing that actually beats this stuff is the ramen I eat at home…but this is the best non-ramen food I've ever eaten!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kaoru let out tears of joy. "Oh Naruto, you're so sweet!" she said as she gave Naruto a big kiss on the cheek. "See, a REAL man would be able to enjoy MY cooking!" she said to the other three as she crossed her arms proudly.

"ANYWAY…," said Sanosuke, wanting to change subject before he retaliated with a clever comeback. "So kid, what kind of world you live in?" he asked Naruto.

"Um…well, actually, I don't know much about the details of the whole world, because I've never really gotten that far. So far the only places I've been to were the Country of the Wave, the Country of Wind, and my home country, the Country of Fire," Naruto replied as he stuffed rice into his mouth.

"Country of Wind? Your other countries are named after elements too?" Yahiko wondered.

"Yeah, like so far, the known countries in the world are Country of Fire, Country of Wind, Country of the Wave, Country of Lightning, Country of Water, and Country of Earth," Naruto explained.

"So your village must be the leaf, then, right?" Kenshin deduced.

Naruto looked surprised. "What! How did you know?"

"I know that there are various ninja clans in this world, although in some cases the clans themselves will gather to form a village, and even though your world is different from ours, I'm pretty sure the way of the ninja is the same anywhere," Kenshin said. "I'm also guessing that your forehead protector does not just protect your head, as it also has a leaf symbol carved into the metal, and I can think of no other reason for that symbol other than the symbol for your village. Am I wrong?"

Naruto just stared at him. _Wow, he might actually be smarter than Shikamaru…_

"Yeah, that's Kenshin for ya; his level of insight is so damn good that he's able to see through a person's attack even after taking only one hit," Sanosuke said, acknowledging the bewildered look on Naruto's face. "You can't put anything past him."

"Well, yeah, I live in the Village of the Hidden Leaf, but I just like to call it Konoha. And yeah, there are also ninja clans in our village too, and they're pretty strong," Naruto said.

"Your village has a jounin too, I assume?" Kenshin asked.

"Uh…," Naruto was confused by that question not only because he was stupefied again by Kenshin's insight, but also because the question sounded so…odd.

"It's alright, the ninjas in this world also call their leaders jounin too," Kenshin reassured.

"Oh…no, that's not what I was confused about," Naruto said. "I was confused because you asked if I had _a_ jounin…but our village has more than one."

"Your ranking system is different, then?"

"Actually, we still have the Genin, Chuunin, and Jounin in our village, but our leader is called…the Hokage," Naruto said, almost dreamily.

"The what, now?" Sanosuke asked.

"Fire…Shadow?" Yahiko repeated quizzically.

"Wait a minute…I remember you were yelling something about that, Naruto-kun," Kaoru observed.

Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I said that before just to intimidate you guys, but I really meant it; my ultimate dream more than anything is to be Hokage!"

"You want to be Hokage, huh? Now why would you want to be such a thing?" Sanosuke asked nonchalantly, not realizing what he had just sparked.

Naruto smiled proudly as he began to say the reason that he had always been saying. "I want everyone to acknowledge my existence and see how great I am!"

_How great…you are?_ Yahiko thought.

"Well gee, now why didn't I think of that before?" Sanosuke muttered sarcastically, albeit amusingly.

"That sounds like a very good reason, Naruto-kun," Kaoru said.

Kenshin stared at Naruto, who went back to chowing down on his food. _Interesting…,_ he thought, _it's an interesting reason, given what I sense deep inside him…_

"So what rank are you then, Naruto-kun?" Kaoru asked casually.

Naruto's expression slightly dropped. "Well, I'm SUPPOSED to be chuunin…but I'm still not sure yet; the last exam we had was interrupted, and I just realized I forgot to ask my teacher if I passed."

"You know, I think we should just forget about all these small questions and instead move on to the big one that I think everyone's thinking right now," Sanosuke said as he gave Naruto a piercing stare.

"Huh?"

"During our little skirmish before, you did this really weird thing, and all of a sudden…there's _another _you! If I recall, I don't remember ninjas being able to do that. What the hell was all that about?" Sanosuke asked loudly, as if he had been itching to say it for a while.

Naruto, in all honesty, had also been expecting that question for a while. "Oh, that thing...," he began, "well, it's what we call in my world 'ninjutsu', or ninja magic. We…"

But then Naruto stopped and suddenly felt a dawning realization. "Do you guys…know about chakra?"

"What?" said Yahiko.

"Okay, nevermind," Naruto said, thinking that one answer pretty much summed it up. Thinking they deserved an explanation, however, he continued, "The chakra that I'm talking about is this force within the body made up of physical and mental energies. With this chakra, we ninjas can do many things like walk on any surface that's not the floor or ground, or use ninjutsu or genjutsu. In order to do them, however, we need to mold the chakra and use hand seals."

"A mix of physical and mental energies…you know we have that too," said Yahiko.

"Huh? Really?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"Yes, except we call it 'ki' rather than 'chakra', and we don't really use it the way you do; we just use little bits of it for our attacks," said Kenshin.

"Hey kid, you wanna show us that little trick again?" Sanosuke asked.

Naruto, who had just finished eating, grinned and said, "Sure!"

He stood up and walked to the center of the dojo, where he crossed his left and right fingers again. _Now that I've eaten a lot, I should be able to make at least twenty clones! _Naruto thought gleefully.

"Alright…here goes!"

KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!

There were puffs of smoke, and when they cleared…

"AW MAN!" Naruto screamed in agony.

There were only three clones.

"Whoa, this time he made three!" Yahiko said excitedly.

"Dammit, not again!" said Naruto frustratingly.

"What, what's the matter?" asked Sanosuke.

"I was supposed to make twenty clones, but only three came out!" yelled Naruto. "Why is this happening? I'm molding the right amount of chakra…but it's not working!"

"Naruto-kun, I think I might know why," said Kenshin.

"Huh? You do?" Naruto wondered.

"Whether I'm right or wrong, I don't know, but I am guessing that the rules governing the body's energies are different in both our worlds. In your world, that same amount of energy you used to make twenty copies would have worked, but in this world, it generally takes a lot of energy to even execute the simplest of techniques," Kenshin theorized.

"So…so you're saying that if I want to make twenty clones, I would have to use up even more chakra than what I normally use?" Naruto asked, slightly horrified.

"Precisely."

Naruto gave a very loud sigh. "Aw man…and just when I've finally got the hang of molding my chakra, I have to mold even more! Sigh…,"

"It will be all right; by the time you go back to your world, you will probably have mastered the use of your chakra in this world," Kenshin reassured calmly.

"I hope so…," said Naruto, looking slightly downcast.

Yahiko suddenly stood up.

"Naruto-san," said Yahiko.

Naruto was shocked. "What did you say?"

Yahiko leaped to the outside of the dojo.

"Naruto-san…," said Yahiko again as he drew out his wooden sword. "Let's have a fight!"

Meanwhile…

"How's Shikamaru?"

"He is still unconscious, Sakura-san," said Lee.

"Don't let him get too comfortable…he's still not off the hook."

All three of them (Sakura, Lee, and Neji) jumped into the air from their seats, for they had never noticed their new captor enter the room.

_He's scary-looking…who has eyes like that nowadays? _Sakura thought nervously.

_But his power…he took out one large man in an instant…he is definitely not normal…_, Lee thought just as nervously.

_Even I couldn't notice him…then again, I can't seem to notice anything lately anyway…, _Neji thought.

On Neji's side, Shikamaru suddenly gave a groan and fluttered his eyes open. In an instant, Neji covered Shikamaru's mouth with his hand.

Shikamaru, noticing the signal, immediately understood and sat up in his seat like the others.

The man smirked. "Hehe…you should have just stayed down, boy."

The mysterious-looking man went to the desk that the four were in front of, and sat in the chair behind it. He sat with his back straight and crossed his arms on his desk.

"Before we begin, I'm going to point out that I don't care who you all are or how old all of you are; you have violated a rule stating the forbidden trespassing into the town of Shungoku. By law, the punishment for such a crime is –

"WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING!" Lee blurted out.

Suddenly a blade was pressed at Lee's throat.

"You will never interrupt me again…," said the man menacingly as he withdrew the blade. "Now, as I was saying, the punishment for such a crime is –

"YOU ARE GOING TO PUNISH US JUST FOR GOING INTO A TOWN!" Lee blurted out again.

"Lee…if you would be so kind as to let the man talk…," said Neji calmly, though years of being with Neji had taught Lee just when to shut his mouth. "We might be able to get –

"Get what? What are you trying to get?" The man suddenly cut across.

Neji felt slightly tense for the first time in a long time. "Um…that is…"

"What is your goal? Why did you enter that town?" The man pelted hard at Neji.

Neji could not really explain it, but somehow each question the man threw at him gradually made him feel smaller and smaller, and he was doing his to stop his tightened fists from shaking so horribly. "Uh…I…we…tha-that is…"

If the man had any idea of what mind games he was playing with Neji at that moment, he did not seemed to be amused. "Quit blabbering around like a child and answer the questions!" he flared.

Sakura could not bear to see this scene any longer. In reality, Neji was the one who indirectly kept everyone calm by being constantly calm himself. If Neji broke down (and make no mistake, he looked pretty darn close to it)…the whole team…

"Stop it right now! For crying out loud, all he wanted to get was your name!" Sakura angrily shouted, knowing full well that her reaction was completely spontaneous and informal for a first meeting, and that what she said wasn't _completely _false; they, after all, never caught his name.

Even the man already knew that wasn't what Neji meant as his already narrow eyes became narrower, and for a second Sakura thought the man would actually fulfill his promise of killing them.

Instead the man spoke again in a calmer tone, "Saitou. Saitou Hajime, captain of the police in this area."

He waited for a while, but when the four ninjas still didn't make a sound, he gritted his teeth.

"Well?" he asked.

The four ninjas just looked puzzled for a second before Lee said hesitantly, "Well…what?"

"You all must have names, do you not?" Saitou asked, irritated.

"O-oh, my name is Haruno Sakura!" Sakura yelled out unexpectedly; the tension apparently was killing her.

"Sakura-san!" Lee shouted.

"Great, Sakura, why don't you just kill us while we're at it?" Neji groaned even though he was still shaking, for it was an unspoken rule to _never_ say one's name to anybody on a mission.

"I-I'm sorry everyone, but…I just couldn't help it!" Sakura moaned.

"That's the most pathetic excuse I haven't heard you say in two years…," said Neji with as much contempt as he could muster.

"And just who was the one who kept shaking like a little boy, huh?" Sakura shot back, completely forgetting who she was talking to. "Hardly what I've expected from the "genius" of Hyuuga!"

Now it was Neji's turn to narrow his eyes. "Why, you…"

THWIP THWIP THWIP THWIP!

"Ow!" Sakura yelped.

"Geez!" Shikamaru yelled.

"What the – " Lee shouted.

"Dammit!" Neji growled.

Watching the four rub their newly bruised heads, Saitou retreats the sword back into the sheath, his eyes nothing more than slits.

"I know that Neji and Sakura-san needed to be hit, but why did you have to hit me?" Lee moaned.

"Yeah, that's right, just forget about _my_ pain, why don't you?" Shikamaru mutter sarcastically.

"Geez, that really hurt!" Sakura exclaimed while massaging her head.

"First the lame excuses, now I have to hear your whining all over again?" Neji sneered, shaking his head.

"ENOUGH!" Saitou yelled with his hands slamming on his desk so hard that the four literally fell out of their chairs. "The next time I hit your heads… you will all be free from that pain…," he glared ominously.

The four just stood there, frozen. Then just as fast as they fell out of the chairs, they sat back down again with Sakura saying ever so joyfully, "It's such an _honor_ to meet you, Mr. Saitou Hajime-san, this is Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru, Rock Lee…"


	22. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Before we begin…

First, I would like to apologize for the long absence. I know I said that I would be gone on a hiatus, but I never said how long it would take. I did not realize at the time that it would take over a year for me to get back to writing this again. By now, I'm sure a lot of people have retired from reading this story (I know I would, if the author came back after a year and uploaded only one chapter.) and for those who continue to read and review after all this time, I express my dearest gratitude to you all. I sincerely hope that my schedule doesn't get extremely bad again and that my ideas will continue to flow once more. Once again, I apologize for the super long wait.

Now on to other stuff: If a story leaves its own author scratching his head, chances are the readers of said story are doing the same as well. I know there are a couple of details in the story that are a little confusing and I'll do my best to clear them up right now:

1. **What's Sasuke's deal? **Well, you remember in the prologue how Orochimaru was tending to Sasuke's memories while he reduced Naruto's chakra to zero. Because of Orochimaru's meddling, it would be natural that Sasuke would forget some things about his past. Gradually, Sasuke recovers his memories as evident in the story, but I'll say now that he hasn't recovered fully yet…

2. **The whole chuunin exam mystery thing just totally flew over my head there…** Okay, as we all know, the chuunin exam can only be taken in groups of three. The fact that Naruto and Sasuke were given free rein to take it with one less member should be the first clue that something seemed amiss. Kakashi does provide an explanation saying that because of the whole "power of the villages" deal and that the leaf village still doesn't have as much as before, Naruto's and Sasuke's presence in the exam and their clear-shot at victory would give the leaf village a pretty impressive reputation, especially since, as mentioned before, Naruto and Sasuke were the only two leaf genin in the exam. That explanation is actually true, but it's merely a mask for the second explanation that Sasuke receives when he discovers that the exam was also to test his allegiance to the village and that Naruto unwittingly serves as his "ultimate test" (By fighting Naruto, his best friend, Sasuke will be tested on whether he is still "evil" enough to destroy his friend). Of course, that bit of truth served as yet another front for the ultimate goal of the exam: The surveillance and subjugation of the two foreign ninja (Aoshi and Misao) and determine what their goals were. Again, Naruto's and Sasuke's presences were important in this matter, because they were considered strong enough to fight them, and "interesting" (Naruto as the Kyuubi kid, Sasuke as the last Uchiha, can't any more interesting than that) enough for the ninja to notice them. Get it? Got it? Good.

Oh, and there's still one more thing about the exam not yet revealed, but all will be revealed in due time…haha.

3. **What's Sasuke's deal? (Part 2) **Okay, the whole Sasuke's chakra getting totally shattered into different elements was indeed pretty weird, but for all those who are up-to-date with the manga, you guys will understand loosely of what I'm trying to say (ironically, the whole chakra nature business in the manga came out like a whole year _after_ I wrote about Sasuke's chakra breaking up into the five elements…pretty interesting, I gotta say). I feel like Sasuke's ordeal should be pretty self-explanatory, but for those of you who wonder about Sasuke's future…well, I'm sure there's a silver lining in every cloud, no matter how thin it may be.

4. **What the bloody heck is this whole darkness power-up thing that all these people have? **Kinda makes you wonder why this story is called "Darkness Collision," right? Don't worry, there's still more to it than what's seen so far.

5. **Um…the Oniwabanshuu should be pretty big…** As far as I, the author, am concerned, the only Oniwabanshuu that has appeared in _Kenshin_ are considered "the Oniwabanshuu". Plus, Aoshi is (or rather, was) the freakin Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu – you mean to tell me he _can't _defeat them all? He took out every single dude who tried to climb up Edo castle when he was only thirteen, for crying out loud. And no, don't even try to argue with me about how it's not "real" enough. Sanosuke, if I recall, manage to take out _two hundred men_ all on his own. When it comes to fiction, there is no such thing as complete reality, because if there was, then it wouldn't be called fiction, right?

6. **Naruto can't clone more, Neji can't see straight, Shikamaru totally fainted…** You know, the phenomenon that these guys are experiencing right now is a concept that will appear in future stories…that's all I'll say about it.

Alright, enough jibberjabbering from me, enjoy the story.

Chapter 21 – **Those Eyes I Wished to Forget…The One Who Must Die**

_"Foolish little brother…"_

_"You are not even worth killing."_

_"You're in the way."_

_Wha…?_

_"You are weak."_

_"Why are you weak?"_

_"It's because you lack…hatred."_

_"If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me…"_

_Stop…talking…_

_"And survive in an unsightly way…"_

_"Run. Run and cling on to life…"_

_"Run…"_

_"Run…"_

_Damnit, stop…_

_"Run…"_

_I told you to stop!  
_"AAHHHHHH!"

"Tsunade-sama, he's going through spasms again!"

CHAKRA FUUIN!

Immediately, Sasuke's screams quieted down, as well as his flames.

"That ought to hold him down for another hour or two...," Tsunade asserted while finishing the hand seals.

"Tsunade-sama, I'm getting worried…the intervals between his outbursts seem to be getting shorter and shorter…," Shizune said nervously.

"I'm more puzzled as to why he continues to have those outbursts in the first place…," Tsunade said, staring at Sasuke thoughtfully.

"But I'm confused, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said. "Why is it when you seal his chakra, the flames disappear? Isn't he unable to mold chakra in the first place because his chakra broke down into non-chakra elements?"

"Shizune, even if Sasuke's chakra is no longer what you can call "chakra" anymore, it's still, in a sense, chakra in its "raw" form. As of now, Sasuke's chakra is composed of only one component, and without the other components, it's not really a complete version of his chakra. In other words, Sasuke's current "chakra" is still chakra because it is a component of actual chakra, but for the very same reason, it is NOT chakra," Tsunade explained.

"Uhh…," Shizune was at a loss for words.

"Listen, just be glad that when he fires up, we can put the flames out regardless of what they are," Tsunade asserted.

"Putting out the flames seems to be getting more difficult…should I place Sasuke-kun in the hazard unit just in case?" Shizune asked hopefully.

"No, not just yet. At this moment, Sasuke's outbursts aren't enough to classify him as a hazard. However, if the flames continue to burn after after the last seal, then immediately move him into the unit." Tsunade ordered.

"Are you sure about this, Tsunade-sama? He could do an incredible amount of damage if he were to go completely out of control…," Shizune said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Shizune, even if that were to happen, he won't get very far. After all, who wouldn't be able to track down a man on fire?" Tsunade chuckled a little at her own joke.

_She's taking this way too lightly…_, Shizune thought with extreme apprehension.

They were too busy talking to really understand the things that went on in Sasuke's head…

_"Weak, pathetic fool…,"_ came Itachi's voice again.

_Shut up…_

_"You are still not worth killing."_

_I said, shut up!_

_"After all the time and effort you put into your training…you can't even beat someone like Shinomori Aoshi…," _Itachi's voice continued to taunt.

_Damnit, I told you to shut the fuck up!_

_"Relying on such a pathetic instrument like the curse seal…you are too weak…"_

_SHUT THE HELL UP!_

_"You can't even kill your own best friend…"_

_I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!_

_"Kill me? Is it because you hate me?"_

_YOU FUCKIN – _

_"Or is it because…of him?"_

An image of Aoshi suddenly appeared.

_...What?_

_"Whether it be technique, power, or even character, he saw through everything about you…," _Itachi's voice rang almost like an echo. _"He knew you more than you knew yourself…he denounced your entire existence, and he completely eliminated your entire amount of power."_

_Shinomori…Aoshi…_

_"Worst of all…he had more…more hatred, and more power, than you will ever have…"_

_No…no, that's not…_

_"True? It's very true…"_

FLASH!

"I know about the true nature of your heart that you are so willing to deny…"

FLASH!

"You will never be forgiven, never be able to escape that which you personally call hell."

FLASH!

"And one of those obstacles that you will not pass…is me…."

_That bastard…that fuckin bastard…_

_"Yes, yes…," _Itachi's voice seemed to elevate a little. _"Let it grow, that hatred of yours. He defeated not only you, but your very existence…"_

FLASH!

"Your true powers of darkness will surface without the curse seal, and you will become very useful to the One."

FLASH!

"Submit to your purpose…submit to your darkness…"

FLASH!

"I cannot allow someone like you to exist!"

_He dares…my existence…he dares to…_

_He dares to…_

Itachi's voice seemed to take a different tone.

"_Now take that hatred of yours…and go destroy him…"_

_Destroy…_

"_Slaughter him…"_

_I'll rip him apart…_

"_Make him feel the pain that you felt…"_

_I'll send him to hell…_

"_Curse him into darkness…"_

_My darkness is better…_

"_Destroy him…"_

_Yes…, _Sasuke finally decided. _I will destroy him. I will not let someone like him dare to interfere with my existence! He will drown forever in the pit of darkness! I WILL DESTROY HIM!_

BOOOOM!

The entire hospital exploded.

**

* * *

**

**Meanwhile…**

"You want to fight?" Naruto could not sound any more incredulous.

"Hey Yahiko! Why don't you just cut Naruto some slack, huh? You guys already fought, why do it again?" Kaoru asked.

"That time was different…," Yahiko said, while looking downwards. "I saw Naruto-san as nothing more than a kid who got in here by low tricks and deceptions. But now I realize…to think that Naruto-san might actually have more power than he looks like he does…"

_He's praising me…but he could at least do a better job at it…, _Naruto pouted while his arms were crossed.

Yahiko looked very elated. "There could finally be someone worth fighting around here!"

That remark was finished with a smack to his head by Sanosuke.

"So…what you're basically saying is…compared to Naruto, I'm not worth fighting," Sanosuke said with both clenched teeth and clenched fists.

"Ow! No, I'm saying your _skills_ are below Naruto's!" Yahiko yelled while massaging his head.

"Oh, no, you did not just say…Naruto, sit this one out, Yahiko's gonna get taught right here and now," Sanosuke growled through his teeth.

"Sanosuke…you do realize you're being provoked by a _child,_" Kaoru _seemed_ like she was emphasizing the word "child."

"Child? I'm sorry, what did you JUST CALL ME!" Yahiko looked murderous.

"Well, if you think even your own master isn't a fair challenge anymore, then you still have some growing up to do, _child_!" Kaoru replied haughtily.

"Wait, Kaoru…are you trying to tell me that I'm so weak that I would get easily provoked by a _child_?" Sanosuke said, turning on Kaoru, who glared at him back.

"I'm not even going to get into what kind of a weakling you are!" Kaoru shouted back.

"Are you forgetting about ME!" Yahiko yelled while whacking his shinai on both Kaoru and Sanosuke.

"Oh, that is…"

"IT!" yelled all three of them as they starting beating the crap out of each other.

Naruto all the while was standing there like a total idiot in complete bafflement as to how the situation became like this. "Hey, Kenshin-nii-san!" he yelled.

"Oro? 'Kenshin-nii-san?'"

"Isn't-isn't there a way to stop this?" Naruto said frantically.

"Oh, don't worry, Naruto-kun. They fight like this all the time, that they do," Kenshin said, looking quite cheerful.

"Oh…uh, okay…," Naruto didn't really know what to make of that, but he decided to settle with it.

The two of them just continued to watch the brawl.

"But really now…," Kenshin mused, almost curiously while Yahiko began pulling Kaoru's hair and making her scream bloody murder. "It's amazing how even your own presence is enough to incite a fight between them…"

"Huh? Oh, well, uh…is that supposed to be weird?" Naruto replied.

Kenshin shrugged. "It's an interesting thought, that it is," he said.

Naruto mulled it over. "I guess it is…kinda interesting…," he replied uncertainly.

The two continued to watch the brawl.


	23. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 22 – **The One Who Must Be Found…Darkness Makes Its Move**

"Remind me again, just how did we end up in here?"

"If I remember correctly, Neji –

"Lee…shut up, I wasn't talking to you."

"Neji, I was only just –

"Lee, you had BETTER be quiet right now!"

"But Neji…!"

THUD!

"Ow…rrgh…damn you, Lee!"

"Neji, it wasn't all my fault!"

"YOU FREAKIN –

WHUMPH!

The unconscious bodies of Neji and Lee fell onto the solid floor.

"Thanks, Sakura," said a weary Shikamaru.

"Don't mention it," said Sakura briskly while massaging her knuckles.

The two stood in silence for a second, staring at the stone walls of their new…home.

"So, Shikamaru," Sakura began in a conversational tone. "Do you have any idea how we're getting out of this place?"

Shikamaru gave her a look. "Are you insane?" he asked. "You heard what that troublesome guy said. If we even so much as _touch _the bars, he'll kill us."

"Oh really now, did he say such a thing? I had no IDEA," said Sakura with as much rich sarcasm as she could muster. "Was it before or after he tried to kill us for STUTTERING?"

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Look, it's troublesome, but we'll have to bear with this guy for a while; he's probably our only clue –

"Our only clue!" Sakura shouted disbelievingly. "Shikamaru, whether we even touch the bars or do any other stupid thing, he's going to kill us anyway! This guy…I don't care if he's a cop, he's a killer and he won't hesitate to kill any of us for whatever reason! And furthermore, just what makes you think he's even telling the truth at all?"

Shikamaru looked up with a rather condescending look. "If he were, as you say, a 'killer', then what would he gain by telling us a lie? If we're really gonna die at any point because of this guy, then not even the truth will help us live. Therefore, he can just tell us the truth knowing that it won't matter to dead people like us anyway."

Despite the morbidity of that reassurance, it seemed to calm Sakura down a bit, but she was still concerned. "But that doesn't change the fact that we're locked up in here when we could be out there searching for Naruto right now! We could have made so much progress by now!"

"And get hounded down by another pack of those troublesome ninjas while we're at it?" Shikamaru asked. "Look, you can tell by the condition of this cell that we can easily break out at any time. We've done it thousands of times before. But if that crazy cop doesn't kill us first, the next wave of ragtag ninjas will slaughter us. And I don't know if you've noticed yet, but our team combat performance so far hasn't been too great."

"Yeah, actually now that I think about it, we haven't been fighting too well, haven't we?" Sakura realized. "I mean, Neji's having problems with his Byakugan, Lee's attacks aren't doing their greatest damage, and you practically fainted when you caught all those guys in your shadow…just what the heck is going on here?"

"You didn't look like you suffered much," Shikamaru observed.

"No…after I made that fissure, for some reason I had to concentrate a lot more just to focus my chakra…I don't understand…," Sakura said.

"And if memory serves me correctly, this troublesome phenomenon happened at about the moment we set foot in this world…," Shikamaru said thoughtfully.

The two were silent for another second.

"Maybe in this world the rules for our powers are different," Sakura said.

"And I know that the Hokage-sama was trying to hide the information from me, but she did let it slip that there are other worlds beyond this one as well. Which means, that in those other worlds, the rules could be different from this world," Shikamaru concluded.

"That probably could be the case…which means that we'll have to rearrange our fighting styles from now on," Sakura replied.

"Not so much in this world," Shikamaru pointed out. "If what I'm thinking is right, then the reason why we can't use our powers as well as we want to is that we seem to require a lot more chakra than normal. That would explain why Neji can't use his Byakugan all the way; because he requires more chakra to maximize its use, and why Lee's attacks aren't as strong."

"And that would also explain why you fainted after you used your shadow attack!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yeah, although I didn't intend it that way…," Shikamaru sighed.

"Ugh…but even so, we could have made so much time going after Naruto right now!" Sakura groaned.

"Well, as long as this cop really has no other motive other than to take us to Naruto himself, we'll cover an incredibly long range of time," Shikamaru asserted.

"I hope so," said Sakura.

FLASH!

_"So, those are our names!" a very jumpy Sakura exclaimed._

_Saitou stared holes into them. "Right…," he muttered after a few seconds of making the others more uncomfortable. "Now, you are all to tell me just what exactly you were doing in Shungoku. Speak, now."_

_"I-I thought y-you didn't care who w-we were or w-what we were d-doing…sir," Sakura stuttered._

_Saitou frowned. "Listen, girl, stuttering in this building will be dealt with - " and he pointed his sword at a trembling Sakura. " – In a very harsh manner, understood? Now I asked you all a question. Speak, now."_

_The four of them gave one simultaneous gulp. It wasn't just Saitou's deadly-sounding command or his blade that made them nervous; rather, it was also the fact that it was an official rule for Konoha ninja to never, ever say anything about their missions, let alone say where they came from._

"_We are ninja, sir!" came Lee's voice._

"_Lee, what are you doing!" Neji asked._

"_Whether he knew about us or not, it's not going to matter to him anyway," Lee reminded him._

"_And why would it not matter to me?" the voice of Saitou seemed to stab right through Neji's and Lee's mini-conversation._

"_Uh…well…," Neji began._

"_We…we are ninja from another world, sir!" Lee continued._

"_Lee, shut up!" Neji yelled._

_Unless Sakura was imagining things, Saitou's eyebrows gave a little twitch._

"…_And just what exactly were you all doing in Shungoku?" Saitou asked again, but this time in a calmer tone._

"_That-that place was our destination when we landed in this world," Lee continued, his courage growing with every word he spoke, though he continued to speak quickly. "We landed in a bar that was rigged with a bomb and when we escaped it, we were attacked by that ninja mob! Luckily you came around to save us, sir."_

Geez, what a suck-up… _thought Shikamaru._

_Saitou didn't answer for a few minutes, his face betraying a hint of trepidation not seen before. "And just what…," he began tensely. "Is your purpose of being here?"_

"_We've come to rescue a friend – no, two friends!" Sakura declared, her nerves overcome._

"_One of them is Uzumaki Naruto!" Lee exclaimed. "And the other…what was the other's name?"_

"_Oh – Misao! Makimachi Misao!" Sakura cried._

_Saitou's eyes suddenly flared, then just as suddenly, his face relaxed. He seemed to be pondering about a few things before he abruptly stood up, startling the four._

"_You are all to go into the jail cell until the next morning. Do not even think about trying to escape – do not even think of_ touching_ the bars of the cell. Make no mistake, if any of you try to escape, you will all die."_

"_What! But we have just told you valuable information! What are you intending!" Lee shouted._

"_Lee…SHUT UP!" Neji bellowed as he jabbed one of the tenketsus on Lee's arm._

_SLICE SLICE SLICE SLICE!_

_This time the four didn't even make a sound, for the cuts made on their faces were made painless. Only the tell-tale blood oozing down Sakura's face elicited a sharp cry from her._

_Saitou raised his sword again, his face now showing seriousness like he had never shown before._

"_Don't ever question my orders again…get in the cell now, all of you."_

_At once, the four stood up, and slowly and silently walked off in the direction of the cell._

_As Shikamaru was the last person to get in, Saitou muttered something else._

"_When morning comes, we will leave for Tokyo."_

_Shikamaru turned around. "Excuse me?" he asked._

_Saitou didn't blink. "Many people cross through Tokyo. Some of them…know about the whereabouts of certain people…."_

_Shikamaru looked confused, then it slowly dawned on him._

_Saitou noticed that Shikamaru was not budging. "Hurry up and get in the cell."_

_Shikamaru snapped out of his reverie, and went in._

_Thus began the long, restless night…_

Meanwhile…

It was already becoming nighttime.

"Um…I really think stopping them would be a good idea right now, Kenshin-nii-san," Naruto said.

Kenshin signed. "You're right, Naruto-kun. They really have been dragging it out longer than usual today…"

Naruto's stomach growled again. "You know, it's funny, I've been getting pretty hungry ever since I came in this world."

Kenshin smiled. "Really now? Are you sure it is not because of Kaoru-dono's cooking?"

"What? Oh no, I seriously loved her food!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "I can't for dinnertime!"

Kenshin chuckled softly. _Replenishing energy in this world will be a little hard for you, Naruto-kun, _he thought. _It's no wonder you need all the food in the world – _

His smile suddenly turned into a frown.

"Huh? What's the matter, nii-san?" Naruto asked.

Kenshin turned his attention to the brawl. "Sanosuke! Kaoru-dono! Yahiko! All of you, stop fighting right now!"

Naruto looked nonplussed. "Kenshin-nii-san, you don't have to be so harsh …"

"You felt it too, Kenshin?" Sanosuke replied, his breathing coming out in short bursts, but his eyes looked alert.

"What? What's going on?" asked Kaoru, who looked mighty disheveled, but was pulling herself together as fast as she could.

Yahiko's eyes widened. "It's over here!" he cried out, looking all over the place. "But…but what is it? It…doesn't feel right."

"Wait, what is it, guys, what's happening?" Now even Naruto was confused.

Kenshin slowly fell into battou-jutsu stance.

_What is this…this feeling…,_ thought Kenshin intensely. _Never in any opponent of my life have I felt this feeling before…and it's getting stronger…just what could this be…_

"Naruto, look out!" Yahiko yelled out.

"Huh?" Naruto turned around to see –

A black creature with two yellow eyes and two insect-like antennae attacked him.


	24. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.

Chapter 23 – **That Which Shatters the Will…Beings of Darkness…**

Naruto jumped out of the way just as the creature's claws barely missed his face.

"What the…what the hell was that?" Naruto asked as he stood back up.

"That thing just sprung out of nowhere…," Sanosuke mused, looking startled.

"Aw, it looks pretty cute. It looks pretty small…maybe it got lost from its family," Kaoru said, her eyes showing affection.

It was true; the creature stood no taller than Naruto's waist, although that could have been attributed to its constant hunched posture. It kept moving its head in all directions as if it was expecting something to attack. To top it all, the creature's body just could not seem to stop moving. It was currently standing in one spot, and it still kept moving.

A fact which annoyed Sanosuke quite a bit.

"Damnit, can it NOT stop moving?" he said without much restraint.

Yahiko stared at him. "It's a weird-looking creature that's not any animal I know of in life, and you're more worried about how it moves? Which, come to think of it, what _is_ this thing?"

"Rrgghh…it keeps moving! It's almost like a freakin' bug or something, complete with those antennae and all," Sanosuke said with a very uncharacteristic shudder.

Naruto glared sideways at the two of them. "Excuse me, have we totally forgotten that the 'bug' TRIED TO KILL ME!"

"Oh, Naruto, I'm sure it didn't mean any harm," Kaoru replied consolingly. "Why, I'm sure it just wanted someone to play with. You wanted someone to play with, didn'tja?" she said in a babyish voice to the creature as she picked it up.

"Kaoru-dono, please put down that creature this instant!" Kenshin said sternly.

Kaoru looked slightly offended. "Well, geez, I was only just – OW!"

The creature suddenly slashed her viciously in the face, forcing her to let go and lose her balance.

"Kaoru, no!" Yahiko shouted.

"Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin yelled.

"Ouch!" Kaoru cried as she landed hard on the ground. "Ow…," she moaned again as she gingerly touched the wound made across her face, her eyes filling up with tears.

"Kaoru-nee-chan!" Naruto yelled, rushing over.

"Hold on, Kaoru!" Sanosuke added, following Naruto. The moment they ran over, however, the creature began advancing towards Kaoru.

"Oh no, you don't, you son of a bitch!" Sanosuke roared as he swung his fist and –

FUTAE NO KIWAMI!

-- uppercutted straight into the creature.

Instantly, as Sanosuke's technique met the creature, it dissolved into black smoke.

"Wha…what the…?" Sanosuke said, confused.

"Did…did it just die?" Yahiko asked.

Naruto was pretty speechless. _Whoa, what the heck was that? _he thought. _That wasn't just an ordinary punch…how in the…?_

"Kaoru-dono, are you alright?" Kenshin, who was worrying about more important matters, asked.

Kaoru was still shaking, but weakly managed an "I'm fine" while rising up to her feet, Kenshin helping her. "And I'm sorry for not listening to you sooner," she added ruefully.

"There is no one at fault here, Kaoru-dono. No one knew what the creature would have done. Even if you did listen to me, that does not change the fact that it still would have attacked you, that it doesn't," Kenshin replied kindly.

"Is your wound alright, Kaoru-nee-chan?" Naruto asked with concern.

Kaoru smiled. "It's only a few scratches, nothing more."

Looking pleased, Naruto turned back to the other main issue. "Hey, hey," he began, "just what in the heck was that thing? Do those things live in this world?"

"Idiot, I just said that animals like that thing aren't seen around," Yahiko reiterated.

Before Naruto could retort, Sanosuke spoke up, "Well, obviously that thing doesn't live in this world. If anything, from the moment we all saw it, I automatically knew that the weird thing didn't come from around here."

"Wait, how? How are you able to know that?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"The darkness…," Kenshin replied in a cold voice, and his face once again gave that icy expression that sent chills down Naruto's spine, "the feeling of darkness given off from the creature that can shatter the wills of the weak-minded…."

"So that's why you told me to let it go…," Kaoru realized as she started trembling again.

"Exactly," Sanosuke agreed.

Naruto pondered all of this for a minute. _The feeling of darkness…darkness that shatters the will…_

FLASH!

_Her killer intent shot up like crazy! It was enough to cut my soul into a million pieces! I've never felt anything like this before…_

"No way!"

"Huh, what?" Yahiko asked.

Naruto just stared with his mouth gaping, the realization hitting him hard. "Sanosuke-nii-chan!" he asked after a few seconds.

Sanosuke almost fell over. "Whoa, dude, just 'Sano' is fine, don't EVER call me that again, whatever you do," he replied forcefully, while Kaoru stifled a giggle.

"What kind of feeling did you have when you felt that creature's presence for the first time?" Naruto asked.

Sanosuke looked at Naruto curiously before he began, "Nothing too bad, just felt a little uncomfortable," he said, avoiding Naruto's eyes.

Naruto glared. "No, seriously, what did you really feel?"

Sanosuke hesitated, then plowed on, "Well…okay…it…it basically…it basically felt…like hell. It basically felt like hell. It felt like my power was getting ripped apart…and…I felt…I felt lost…."

The look in Sanosuke's eyes became distant.

"It felt like…like I couldn't go on…like my soul -- "

" – would get cut into a million pieces," Naruto finished, his breathing becoming shallow.

"Yeah, yeah, like that! How do you know about that?" Sanosuke wondered.

"I felt the same thing…when I fought against Misao…and when I met with Aoshi," Naruto answered quietly.

"Wait a minute…Aoshi and Misao? _Our_ Aoshi and Misao?" Kaoru asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Wait, so you're saying that Aoshi and Misao have the same darkness as that creature?" Sanosuke asked.

"That can't be right…can't it?" Yahiko said tentatively.

"It would certainly explain a lot of things, that it would…," Kenshin replied, his stern expression slowly turning into an expression of tense worry. "If Aoshi is indeed one with the darkness, then there is no doubt the darkness is the reason why he annihilated the Oniwabanshuu and why he did those things as you said he did. As for Misao…"

"Well, technically, Jo-chan doesn't count anymore; she gave up the darkness to be with that Aoshi…but…," Naruto ended lamely.

"So it's only Aoshi who's in league with the darkness now…," Sanosuke said thoughtfully. "Wait, so doesn't that mean he might have something to do with that creature?"

"You mean like he sent it here or something?" Yahiko asked.

"It could be a possibility," Sanosuke said.

"But what good would it do him to target us?" Kaoru wondered.

"This is the darkness we're talking about, Kaoru; combined with Aoshi, he would do _anything_ to get what he wants…or rather, what he wanted," Sanosuke answered.

"And what did he want?" Naruto asked.

Sanosuke snorted, "Kenshin's life."

Naruto stared. "What?"

"There will be a later time to explain," said Kenshin, whose expression returned to its deadly form. "They're coming again."

"Wait, what?" Yahiko asked.

"Oh crap, no way," Sanosuke groaned as he also sensed it.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

"The creature…or, well, feels more like _creatures_ now…," Sanosuke muttered grimly.

"Everyone get ready!" Kaoru shouted.

In the setting sun, the growing shadows suddenly grew at a faster rate, and the same creature emerged from the shadows again.

Then two more appeared right after.

And then ten more.

And then finally…

_Oh man…_Naruto thought furiously with his teeth gritted as the growing, fidgeting mass of yellow-eyed creatures began to rapidly enclose them…


	25. Chapter 25

-1To all the dedicated readers of this story:

First of all, thank you very much for your patience in reading this story. Granted, there have been other stories that have delayed even longer than my own, but that does not excuse the fact that I too have delayed a story that I believe and hope that the ones who remained devoted have truly enjoyed. I just wanted to say, therefore, that I am sorry for putting off a story for so long and that I am sincerely regretful for neglecting it.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of my apology, for this is not a notice about a delay. This is a notice signifying the end of Darkness Collision, for all accounts and purposes. Given the increase in real-life activities I have had to deal with ever since I was rudely awakened to the real world, I was forced to put off writing these stories. Now that I have managed to touch upon the idea of writing fan fiction again, I began trying to write Darkness Collision again, only to be shocked by the new material presented by Masashi Kishimoto on Naruto Part 2. Anyone who has been up to date with Naruto Part 2 will know just what's the deal with Sasuke and Itachi, or Naruto and Tobi, or Jiraiya, and all those plot points have set up such wonderful new directions for my stories to take…that I realized that I could not take Darkness Collision with me on those directions. Even if I could, I would have to retcon QUITE a lot of things, such as how the characters in my story are in comparison to how they are in the main story. Of course I understand that I technically don't HAVE to retcon everything to fit the main story, but the new plot developments have really changed things, and I know that if I start a new story with those new plot developments, I would have an even more satisfying series than before.

Again, to all those who stuck around before, I am truly sorry, and I feel like I have wasted a significant amount of your lives on my stories. Fear not, however, for I am in the making of a new Naruto series that, while technically not a crossover, still involves the STORY STRUCTURE of another show, and it is with that story structure, as well as the new plot developments in Naruto, that I write my new fan fiction.

So in other words, don't die out on me just yet. The next story is coming soon…


End file.
